Return
by sailorraven34
Summary: Raven isn't exactly thrilled when Otto finds out that she's been secretly raising two children. And she's even more annoyed that Nero decides that he's the perfect one to look after them while she and him are gone for a weekend. But she can handle it until an old enemy appears, dredging up memories of Gayle. That's when things go out of control. Sequel to Runaway.
1. Chapter 1

_Nyss hummed to herself as she drew on the scrap of paper. Straight brown/blond hair, slightly uneven gray eyes, a tattered denim headband holding back her bangs. Not pretty like Natalya, though. Her shoulders were too broad and her face was too thin and emaciated-_

"_NYSSA!" _

_Someone grabbed her shoulder and she turned around. It was her sister- bright blue eyes, cheeks flushed with anger, glossy dark hair that turned into wavy curls past her shoulders. _

"_What are you doing?!" Natalya spluttered, starting to drag her away. _

"_Drawing." Nyss said absent mindedly, tucking the pencil stub into the pocket of her pants. _

"_We have _two minutes_!" Natalya spat. "Two! Minutes!"_

"_Then why aren't you running?" Nyss said calmly. _

"_You'd never be able to keep up." Natalya said loftily. _

"_How do you know that?!" Nyss glared at her. "I'm very fast-"_

"_Oh, yeah?" Natalya snarled. _

"_Yeah!" Nyss took off at a sprint- _

_BANG!_

_She crashed straight into someone and fell backwards onto the concrete floor. Nyss sat up and rubbed her head. Her upper lip trembled. _

"_Please _try_ to suppress your emotional outbursts." said a cool voice. Natalya gritted her teeth. _

"_She's _six_! What the hell do you expect her to be, some sort of super human-" Natalya's voice trailed off as she stared up into the face of Anastasia Furan. _

"_Natalya…" she started. Natalya braced herself for what was inevitably going to be some awful punishment. _"Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"

"What?" Raven looked up and saw not Anastasia, but Nero instead. "Oh… er, yes, of course."

"Really." Nero glared at her. "Then where are we going?"

"Um…" Raven decided to fake a coughing fit instead of trying to answer.

Nero sighed. "Here." He handed her a glass of milk. They were sitting in his rooms, talking about… something. She started drinking.

"Anyway, since we're obviously going to leave the kids here… we'll need a baby sitter." Nero shrugged. "What about Fanchu and Malpense?"

Raven opened her mouth and all the milk she'd had in her mouth flew out all over Nero. Nero sighed. "I'm taking that as a no."

"No! There is no whey I'm letting that… _boy _get close to Adrian and Nyss! I would rather die! I would rather kill you! I would rather-"

"Okay, okay, Natalya." Nero put his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down."

"I am very calm!" Raven took a deep breath and cast around to think of something to say. "Er… where are we going?"

Nero sighed.

###

"Otto?" Wing said.

"Yeah?" Otto looked up from the textbook. "What?"

"Raven left her blackbox at practice." Wing said. "I thought I would give it to her… but I can't find her anywhere. So I thought I'd go leave it in her room."

"Do you know where that is?" Otto said, standing up.

"Yes." Wing said. "Do you wish to come?"

"Sure!" Otto said.

Wing looked at him hard for a while. "You just want to go spy on Raven."

"No!" Otto protested. "Really!"

Wing sighed. "Then come on."

Raven's room was small plain and the only sign that anyone lived in it at all was a tiny framed picture on her desk. It showed two girls, one Raven at age seven and one another girl with blond hair streaked with brown and gray eyes.

"Who's that?" Otto said, picking it up.

CLICK.

Otto looked around and saw a door open on the other side of the room, near Raven's bed.

"Maybe we should go." Wing said nervously.

"No." Otto walked over to the door. "I want to-"

BANG!

The door slammed open, banging Otto in the face and knocking him backwards. A girl stood in the doorway. She was about four with short dark hair pulled back in twin pigtails, wearing a bright green tutu and nearly poking him in the face with a silver plastic fairy wand.

"What are you doing here?" she bellowed. A boy stood behind her, peering shyly over her shoulder. He had brown eyes and red hair that fell in damp curls over his eyes.

"Nothing." Otto rubbed his nose, which was bleeding. "Geez, do you always open doors that way?"

"Yes." She said promptly. "In case of spiders."

"Spiders?" Otto asked.

"Spiders." She frowned, then squealed "Wing!" She ran over and hugged him around his waist.

"Er… you know these two?" Otto said slowly.

"Yes." Wing said unhappily. "This is Nyss and Adrien. They're Raven's children."

"Um… what?" Otto said, thinking he must have misheard.

"Yes, they're my children." Someone said, grabbing Otto's shoulder. "Now shouldn't you be going?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi, Raven." Otto said. "Nice to-"

"Cut to the chase, Malpense. What are you doing in my room?"

"Um…" Otto muttered. "I… see… there was this…"

"I'm _waiting_." Raven growled.

"Natalya."

Raven turned around and saw Nero. "What, Max? I'm busy."

"What, terrorizing Malpense?" Nero said.

"Mommy!" Nyss grinned and ran over to Raven, who picked her up with a grunt, and turned to face Otto.

"You get out _now. _And never, ever tell anyone about this." Raven growled. "Unless you want me to come after you…"  
"Natalya…" Nero sighed. "Calm down, please."

"I'm very calm!" Raven yelled.

"Natalya." Nero said firmly. "Sit. Down."

Raven sat on her bed, glaring at Otto. Nyss wriggled free from her arms and ran over to Otto. "He showed up and I got him! I got him with the door!"

"Oh, Nyss. I've told you not to do that." Raven said, trying not to snicker.

"Natalya." Nero said. He looked like he was trying to decide whether to laugh or be angry. "Why don't you go… do something?"

Raven muttered something in Russian under her breath but vanished out the door without further complaint.

"Thank you." Nero muttered. He turned back to Otto. "I'm sorry about her. She gets rather… overprotective sometimes."

"Are you her father?" Otto asked, pointing to Nyss.

"No." Nero said. "I don't know his identity, and I do not believe Raven does either." He sighed. "Or she's too afraid to say anything."

"Too afraid?" Wing asked.

"I don't know for certain." Nero muttered. "But that doesn't mean I don't have theories… anyway, I will be leaving with Raven for the weekend and I was wondering if you two would like to make sure the twins don't… well, that we don't have a repeat of the Fired Chicken incident."

"Fried chicken?" Otto asked. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"No." Nero said, sighing. "_Fired _chicken. And it was bad. We had to rebuild half the… you know what, never mind." He looked back at Otto. "And you would, of course, receive extra-credit for this."

"I dunno." Otto said. "Why us?"

"Because Mr. Fanchu was, until about ten minutes ago, the only student who knew of the existence of these two." Nero said. "And the two of you have proved to be more than capable when it comes to… chaos."

"Um." Otto glanced at the two preschoolers. "_Chaos?_"

"Yes." Wing said. "They are a lot of trouble."

"Trouble!" Adrian climbed onto Raven's bed and started bouncing up and down. His sister joined him. "Trouble… trouble… trouble….!"

"Okay…" Otto said. "But why all the secrecy?"

"Don't tell Raven I said this, but I think she's being a bit paranoid." Nero shrugged. "But there are still people who would want to harm these children."

"I'll think about it." Otto said. "Is that okay?"

"Yes." Nero said. "I'd like to know by tomorrow evening at the latest."

"That's fine." Otto said. He headed for the door. "See you in class, Dr. Nero."

Raven reappeared a few minutes after they'd left. "Are- you- insane?!" she hissed through gritted teeth.

"No." Nero said. "They are what we need… under the circumstances."

"What do you mean?" Raven picked up Adrian and brought him into the other room. Nero and Nyss followed her.

"I mean that… well, there's been some unusual activity lately." Nero shrugged. "I just want your children safe, that's all."

"Okay." Raven tossed Adrian his pajamas.

"And… there's something else." Nero said.

"What?" Raven asked.

"I… I want to have a baby." Nero said.

"That's impossible, I can't support it." Raven said matter-of-factly. She tucked Adrian into bed, and then moved onto Nyss.

"There might be a way… of doing it artificially." Nero said cautiously.

Raven was picking Nyss's bear off the floor. When she stood up, her expression was carefully composed. "No child of mine is going to be a science experiment." She said coolly.

"But if that's the only way-"

"No, Max, and that's final." Raven turned out the lights and shut the door, going back into her own room. Nero passed her on his way out the door. She reached out and took his hand. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Nero said. His voice seemed colder than it had a moment ago. "If that's what you want…"


	3. Chapter 3

Raven climbed into bed with an exhausted sigh. She felt like she could sleep for a week… She rolled over onto her side, and heard something crinkle. She reached under her pillow and pulled out battered- several pieces of battered-looking paper. She stared down at them. They were simple pencil sketches- her and Tolya and Dimitri, Zac and Gayle, her punching Anastasia in the face… she smiled as she'd remembered how Nyss had drawn on everything- scraps of paper, her sheets, her clothes, Raven's clothes… once she'd drawn a forty-foot tall girl in the courtyard with Sharpie. She drew those Japanese cartoon characters… manga, and she especially liked one kind- normal schoolgirls who suddenly gained powers and had to fight mysterious evil forces. The idea appealed to her for some reason, although Natalya thought that sounded like a lot of work-

She got to the last page and her breath caught in her chest. It was her. In a white sundress with black sandals, her hair piled up on her head with a white rose tucked into it. She had her arm around Max's shoulders and was smiling at him.

That was... the day they'd gotten married? But Nyss had died years before that'd ever happened… yet it was undoubtedly her hand that had drawn the picture-

"Momma?"

She looked up and saw Adrian standing at the foot of her bed. "I can't sleep." He whispered.

"Come here." Raven slid over to him and scooped him up onto her lap. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"I don't know…" Adrian said. "I'm just not tired…"

"Tell you what." Raven leaned down and kissed the top of his head. "Why don't you go get a book and I'll read to you until you're sleepy, 'kay?"

"Okay." Adrian slid off her lap and went back into his room. Raven stood up and shoved the pictures into her dresser drawer, determined not to give them another thought.

###

"OOOOOTTO!"

Otto looked up and jumped out of the way as Nyss, completely naked and dripping wet, raced past him. She skidded to halt, and grinned at him.

"Hi." Otto said faintly.

Nyss threw her arms around his waist. "Hi! Let's get married!"

Otto looked at Wing for help. Wing looked like he was trying not to smile.

"NYSSA!" Raven ran out of her room carrying a towel. She grabbed Nyss and wrapped her in it. Adrian stood behind her, also wrapped in a towel with soap in his hair. Raven was sopping wet and looked like she was about to kill something.

"_What _have I told you about jumping out of the bathtub?! And you need to wear _clothes_, for heaven's sake-" She seemed to notice Otto for the first time. "Oh. Hi."

"Um." Otto blinked. "Er… I was looking for Nero."

"So you can marry me, ri-"

Raven shoved the towel over Nyss's mouth. "Really. Well, he's not _here_. This is _my_ room. Why would I live with him?!"

"I just figured he'd show up." Otto said. "Like last time-"

"Speaking of last time, I still don't understand what you were doing in my room in the first place." Raven said. She tried to cross her arms but couldn't maneuver around a squirming Nyss.

"We were returning this." Wing dug in his bag and produced Raven's blackbox.

"What?" Raven said. "No, I have mine-"

She pulled it out of her pocket and showed it to him.

"Um." Otto said. "It's _beeping_."

Raven glanced at it. It did seem to be beeping, and there was a flashing red light in one corner, which could only mean one thing-

"GET _DOWN!_" Raven yelled, tossing it over her shoulder and simultaneously grabbing Adrian and shoving Wing and Otto down.

The explosion came a few seconds later. Raven's fingernails dug into Otto's arm as she cried out in pain. She rolled off Otto and set Nyss down. Her shoulder was covered in blood.

"What just happened?" Otto said. He poked his chest. "And _ow_. I think you broke my ribs."

"Yeah, well, at least you didn't get blown up." Raven snapped.

"Mommy, are you okay?" Adrian asked, poking her in the shoulder.

Raven gritted her teeth. "Yes, I'm fine… Otto, you and Wing go find Max. Now."

Otto didn't argue. As he and Wing started off at a run, Raven gathered up her children and went back inside. "Stay here." she ordered.

"Can we do that again?" Nyss said. She was grinning and her eyes were bright.

"No." Raven growled.

"Can I take a bath? With Otto?"

"No, and you are one disturbed little kid." Raven snapped.

"Can I at least get _dressed_?" Nyss whined.

"NO, NOW STAY PUT!" Raven bellowed. She gasped as sudden nausea overcame her. "I'm going to go... to the bathroom."

"NOT FAIIIIIIIR!" Nyss wailed as she left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Raven sat stiffly next to Nero on the couch. She was very aware of the fact that Wing and Otto were both staring at her. Nyss was sitting on Otto's lap, and had finally stopped proposing after Raven had lost it and yelled at her. She seemed to be thinking up a new approach. Adrian was sitting on her other side. She wanted desperately to lean over and have Nero hold her. She also wanted to get out of here- her shoulder _burned_ and she'd spent the last few hours throwing up. Not exactly a great condition for concentrating.

"So… you two will accept the job?" Nero said nervously. His hand twitched towards Raven's for a split second, and Raven felt her face get hot. _Not now. Not in front of these two. _

"Yep." Otto said. "Do you think… we're under attack or something?"

"I have no idea." Nero said honestly.

"Great." Otto shrugged. "Well, see you tomorrow…"

He and Wing stood up and left. As the door to Nero's rooms shut, Raven collapsed onto Nero. "Geez… what a day…"

"No, Otto! Don't go!" Nyss flopped onto the floor. "Mommy, I'm _bored_. I want to go swimming."

"Too bad for you." Raven said grumpily.

"Meanie." Nyss stuck her tongue out at Raven, then grabbed her brother and pulled him off the couch. "Come _on_. Let's do something interesting."

"_Interesting _doesn't necessarily mean that you turn on the TV and start watching whatever's on." Raven said as she and Nero went into his room. She flopped down on the bed, setting her head on Nero's lap.

"Are you scared?" Nero said gently. "Is that why you don't want another?"

"Are we still on this subject?" Raven sighed. "I don't! I just don't, is that good enough for you?"

"No!" Nero said. "Am I not good enough for you?!"

"Me not wanting to have a baby has nothing to do with you." Raven muttered. "I. Just. Don't. Want. One."

"Are you sure?" Nero asked.

"_VERY _SURE!" Raven yelled. "I'm not a… not a… mom-like person! It's not what I'm best at! I can barely handle Nyss and Adrian- well, mostly Nyss- as it is, I can't do it, Max! Plus it would be so much trouble, and I'd get all stressed out, and then I'd have to be stuck here with you forever-"

She closed her mouth very fast and smiled quickly, hoping that maybe he hadn't heard, hadn't understood. But it was too late.

Nero's face had become closed off. "I _am_ not good enough for you, aren't I?"

"What?! No, that's not what I mean-"

"I'm sorry." Nero sighed. He looked miserable. "Maybe if I was younger or something… more like Gayle-"

"GAYLE STABBED ME IN THE BACK." Raven hissed. "I DON'T WANT HIM, AND IF I SAW HIM I WOULD PROBABLY GET SO PISSED OFF I WOULD KILL HIM. STOP TALKING NONSENSE."

"But you said-"

"It was a mistake!" Raven yelled. "I meant I don't like being stuck here! It drives me crazy and all that stuff! I like being out fighting! And I can't do that with a baby on my hip!"

"Okay." Nero said. "You don't have to yell, Natalya-"

"I AM NOT YELLING!" Raven bellowed. She sat up, her cheeks flushed.

"Right." Nero said.

"RIGHT." Raven snapped. She stood up. "I'm gonna go home… try 'n get some sleep."

Nero grabbed her arm. "No- don't go-"

"It's not because of you." Raven said gently. "I'm just damn tired, Max. I need to rest. I got no sleep last night."

The last part wasn't true. She had slept, but only for a few hours and her nightmare had been so terrible she'd been unable to fall back asleep afterward. It was when Anastasia had forced her to fight Nyss… and Nyss had nearly killed her…

"Are you okay? You look really pale." Nero said. He put his arms around her. "Don't worry. Otto and Wing will take good care of Nyss and Adrian."

"I _know_." Raven said. "But I'm worried that someone's out to get them…"

"They can handle that too." Nero said confidently.

"Are you sure?" Raven said. "They're just kids…"

"They've proved to be very got at this sort of thing, Natalya." Nero said. "I really don't think you need to be worried."

Raven sighed. "Alright alright fine."

When she arrived back at her room, however, she couldn't stop worrying. What if they were attacked? And Otto and Wing were killed? What would happen then-

Her blackbox- the real one, not the exploding one- beeped. She glanced at it and saw a message from the doctor who had examined her shoulder.

_I found something… interesting. Come here as fast as you can. _


	5. Chapter 5

Raven sat down, staring at the doctor across the table. He was about her age, and looked very smart. Raven drummed her fingers on the counter. She stared at the doctor, who stared back at her, apparently unsure of how to begin.

"Look." Raven snapped, finally having enough. "If I'm pregnant-"

"What?" he said. "Who said anything about that? No, it's about… your daughter. The one who died years and years ago."

"Marianna?" Raven said. Internally, she flinched at the named. Marianna's death had been her fault and she didn't like to be reminded of her. "Why?"

"Well… some lady came in…"

"What was her name?" Raven asked. The hairs on the back of her neck were prickling.

"She didn't give one." He said. "She was probably a few years younger than Nero… dark hair, blue eyes-"

Raven muttered a bad word under her breath. "_Why_ can't she just leave me alone for ten seconds…?"

"Anyway… I did DNA testing and…" He sighed. "Marianna's father... wasn't Nero."

There was a ringing in Raven's ears, a sort of echo as the words bounce back and forth across her head.

"What?" she said, feeling stupid.

"Marianna's father wasn't Nero." The doctor said. He seemed to understand her shock. "I'm sorry… but I thought you would want to know."

"Gayle." Raven breathed. "He's the only other person I… well… the only other guy it could be." She rubbed her head. "But the timing doesn't fit… I saw Gayle before and after Marianna…"

"It's getting late, you look tired." He said. "You should probably go back and get to sleep."

Raven nodded dimly, even though she knew she would never be able to sleep after this.

When she got back, after tossing and turning for a few hours she pulled out the pictures again, staring at them. She began to notice that something was off about most of them. Tolya seemed older… maybe fourteen? And while all the faces sort of looked the same, Tolya's seemed to match Gayle's and Zac's more closely than anyone else's.

"What are you looking at?" Nyss said, squirming onto her lap.

"Oh, just pictures." Raven said, showing them to Nyss.

"I know that guy!" Nyss squealed, pointing to Gayle. "That's the weird boy! The one I'm going to marry!"

"Otto?" Raven said. She squinted. Now that she thought about it, Gayle and Otto really _did _look the same… weird. She didn't know who the boy's parents were- she would have to ask Nero about it tomorrow- but she had a feeling it had to do with Anke Alto and that definitely explained the resemblance to Gayle.

Gayle. He seemed to be popping up a lot lately-

"What are you thinking about?" Nyss said. "Because your face just got all red."

"Oh, nothing." Raven shoved the pictures into her desk again. "Look, did Dad tell you that we were going to be going away for a while?"

"Yep." Nyss said, bored. She picked up an eraser and started bouncing it on the desk. "He loves me… he loves me not… he loves me…"

"So you have to be extra good for Otto, do you understand?" Raven said, though she had the feeling she was hitting the Nyss equivalent of a brick wall.

"Yep." Nyss started bouncing the eraser off the wall. "I got it."

"And no funny business." Snapped Raven. "Or chicken. Fried or fired."

"Got it." Nyss yawned. "So what are you and Nero going to do? Have se-"

Raven hissed "Nyssa Marianna Nero!" and she clapped her mouth shut. "Absolutely not." Raven growled. "We have to do the G.L.O.V.E. meeting… and that probably means that something crazy is going to happen."

"Like what?"

"Ninjas." Raven shrugged. "You know. The usual."

"Oh." Nyss yawned. "And meanwhile Otto and I can get married and live happily ever after." She frowned. "And Adrian and Wing can live on the roof."

"Lovely." Raven said.

"Yes." Nero said, putting his hand on her shoulder. Raven jumped.

"How long have you been standing here?" she spluttered. "Geez, you startled me!"

"Just a minute or so." Nero said. He ruffled her hair. "I wanted to spend the night."

"Okay…" Raven said.

"What, just okay?" Nero asked.

"Yes, just _okay_." Raven growled. "And I'm tired… and we have like the whole weekend to do this…"

"Do what?" Nyss said.

Raven sighed. "Nyss… can you go bug your brother?"

"You… _want_ me to annoy Adrian?" Nyss said slowly.

"JUST GET OUT OF MY HAIR!" Raven bellowed.

Nyss muttered something under her breath and went into her room. Raven yawned. "I'm tired, Max…"

"I know." Nero said, rubbing her shoulders. "But you won't be able to sleep, will you?"

"No." Raven said. "Look, I found these a couple of nights ago…"

She showed him the drawings. Nero shrugged. "So?"

Raven sighed. He didn't get it. Whatever. She was about to tell him about Marianna's father, but her stomach twisted and she winced. "Um… I have to go to the bathroom."

"You okay?" Nero said. "You look a little green." He bit his lip. "Do you think it could be-"

"I don't know." Raven said. "I really don't know."


	6. Chapter 6

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Nyss yelled. She completed her sixteenth lap of the room and collapsed onto Otto's lap, panting.

"Oooookaaaaay." Otto said. He sighed and leaned back as Nyss jumped off of him and dashed off after her brother.

"_Hey, Otto!"_

_He looked up and saw Laura. She looked nervous and her face was flushed. "So… we still on for today?"_

"_No…" Otto sighed. "I'm really really sorry Laura… I have to do this thing for Nero. I'll be busy today…"_

"_Oh." Laura seemed like she had wilted. _

"_I'm super, super sorry." Otto said. Even to him, it sounded pathetic. "We can go out later, okay?"_

_Laura shrugged. "It's okay. I understand-"_

"HEYYYY!" Nyss yelled, waving her arms in his face. "WAAAAKE UP!"

Otto sighed. "So… do you guys just run around until you pass out?"

"Pretty much, yes." Wing said. "I would use this time to get some homework done."

"Smart." Otto said, pulling out his textbook.

"Yes… just put it somewhere where it won't get trampled." Wing said.

He wasn't joking. Which Otto found out the hard way.

Later, Adrian was lying on the floor looking at a picture book. Nyss, who Otto had figured out _never_ stayed still for more than a few seconds, was waving her plastic wand around again, supposedly vanquishing evil enemies. It sure was interesting to watch. Otto yawned and checked his watch. Only three o'clock? It felt like it had been days. Watching Nyss and Adrian (mostly Nyss) was really tiring. He wondered how Laura was. He was sorry he had forgotten that they were going on a date together tonight, but it couldn't be helped.

What if he brought her here?

"What?" Wing said.

"What what?" Otto asked.

"You just got a very mischievous expression." Wing said.

"Maybe I should bring Laura here." Otto said. "She likes little kids, doesn't she?"

"She is a girl…" Wing said, shrugging. Then he frowned. "Wait. No. We have to keep this a secret, remember?"

"Raven was just being paranoid." Otto said, rolling his eyes. "They're just a couple of really annoying toddlers. Who would be out to get them?"

"Raven said you aren't allowed to tell _anyone_." Wing said calmly.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Otto yelled. "Nothing is going to HAPPEN! NOTHING!"

BANG!

The door flew open. Nyss grinned. "Hah! Someone else who opens doors the way I do!" She started to pull the door shut so she could open it to show the man her spider-killing skills but he grabbed her arm. He had something in his hand… she didn't know what it was and she grabbed for it.

"You are Natalya's daughter." He said. He had dark hair and looked like he was Nero's age. One of his eyes was closed and the other was open and icey blue.

"Raven is Natalya so yes!" Nyss jumped up and down. She noticed how Otto and Wing and Adrian were all staring at her like they saw….

"SPIDER!?" Nyss wipped around. "WHERE IS IT?! WHERE?!"

"Silence, child." The man hissed. She felt his fingers close around her neck and then no more.

###

Raven curled up in her seat, leaning against Nero.

"Feeling okay?" he said.

"Yeah, I took some medicine and my stomach settled." Raven said. "I think it was just a bug."

Nero sighed. "I should be relieved by that… but I'm not."

"Well, that's you." Raven shrugged and yawned.

"_Fight her." Anastasia yanked Nyss to her feet. "Show me how strong you really are."_

_Nyss looked startled. Then her eyes narrowed as she stared at Natalya, shifting instinctively into a fighting stance. Natalya winced. She didn't want to hurt her sister-_

_WHAM!_

_Nyss's fist hit Natalya in the stomach and she doubled over, gasping. Nyss dropped low, swept her feet out from under her, then pinned her down, sitting on her chest. Natalya gasped for breath. Nyss turned to Anastasia. "Like that?"_

"_Yes, very good." Anastasia laughed. "Keep going."_

_Nyss punched Natalya in the nose, sending blood splattering everywhere. Her eyes were strangely blank of all emotion, like she was doing something as simple as tying her shoes. Natalya twisted, trying to get free. She got one foot free, and kicked Nyss in the side. Her grip relaxed a little, and Natalya managed to get free. Nyss got to her feet. _

I should attack now_. Natalya thought but she couldn't bring herself to injure her baby sister. Nyss smiled briefly, then aimed a punch at her side, which Natalya blocked. Nyss did it again, but as Natalya blocked it for the second time Nyss swept her other fist upward, slamming straight into Natalya's heart. _

_Natalya stumbled back, falling onto her back. She was stunned. _

"_If she'd put enough power into it, that would have killed you." Anastasia grabbed Nyss's arm. "Do better next time." _

_Together, she and Nyss walked away. _

"Hello?" Nero waved his hand in front of her face. "You okay?"

"Just thinking." Raven said, shrugging. "I'm fine."

"Good." Nero said. "We're nearly there now."

"I wonder how Nyss and Adrian are doing." Raven said thoughtfully. "I hoped they aren't being _too_ naughty…"


	7. Chapter 7

"I don't know." Nero smirked. "Knowing them…"

"Yeah, you're right." Raven leaned against the wall. "Wow. It's so quiet here without the kids running around screaming at people."

"They're still cute, though." Nero said.

Internally, Raven sighed. _Oh, for crying out loud. I will not have another baby. Give it up. _But out loud she said. "Yeah, but way more trouble then they're worth."

"Are you sure about that?" Nero put his hand around her waist. "I thought you liked it."

"It's okay." Raven turned away from him and fried to send a mental signal that this conversation was over.

_The next time she saw Nyss, it was a few days later. Nyss was all dressed up in pink and lace and ribbons, standing next to Anastasia as she watched over the others. In one hand she had a crisp new sketch pad, in the other a box of those fancy markers she always liked staring at in that little art shop back where they had lived before. Natalya rolled her eyes- what was Anastasia trying to do? She wouldn't be made jealous by a fancy dress and some new toys. But she didn't exactly appreciate her dressing her little sister up like a doll, either. She was pretty sure that her parents, wherever the heck they were, expected her to look after Nyss._

"_Hey, you okay?" Zac poked her in the shoulder. _

"_Yes, I'm fine!" Natalya snapped. "Leave me alone- I'm…" She realized she wasn't doing anything worth not interrupting, and sighed. "Look, just… just…"_

"_Okay." Zac said. _

"Hey!" Nero waved his hand in front of her face. "You're all zoned out again, aren't you?"

"Er." Raven said, flushing.

"What do you think about?" Nero said.

"Nyss, mostly. My friends." The word felt foreign in her mouth. She sighed. _I wonder what Gayle's doing. He pretty much betrayed us… Zac said he was possessed or something but he always was an obnoxious little-_

"You know, if you don't listen to me I'm not talking to you." Nero grumbled.

"What?" Raven said.

Nero sighed, then turned away from her. Raven bit her lip. _Great. Now he's mad at me. This day could not get much worse…_

###

Laura was getting worried. She checked the time on her blackbox.

_Otto said he'd be back for lunch. But there's no sign of him…_

"Stop being depressed!" Shelby smacked her on the back. The blackbox flew out of her hand and hit the floor. Laura sighed and bent over to pick it up. "Otto probably had a legitimate reason for canceling."

"But he said he'd be back by now!" Laura bit her lip. She sounded like a whiny little kid.

"He probably is just busy." Shelby said. "Or forgot…"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Laura shrugged. "Come on."

###

Otto looked from Nyss to Adrian to Wing to the man in the doorway. _What on earth am I supposed to do?_

"The three of you, don't move." The man said. "Except you." He pointed to Adrian. "You come here."

Adrian looked at Otto. Otto didn't move.

"No." Wing said. "He won't. He's not going anywhere."

The man pointed his gun at Wing. "For crying out loud. He's just a brat. Hand him over, please."

"No." Wing said."

"Yeah." Otto echoed. "He's not going anywhere." He felt a little stupid, but for a moment he thought it would be better for Adrian and Nyss (especially Nyss) to go away and then he could go and meet Laura…

"Have it your way." He shrugged. "I only really need one…"

He turned around, gathered Nyss up in his arms and took off.

"Stay here." Wing said. Then he raced off after the man.

Adrian turned to Otto. "What is going on?" he said.

"They're playing tag." Otto said. "Why don't we go into your room and do something quiet for a while?"

Adrian looked unconvinced.

"Nyss'll be right back." Otto added quickly.

"Okay…" Adrian said. "In that case, let's go."

###

The room was small but very pretty. Raven collapsed onto the bed.

"Feeling okay?" Nero asked, stretching out next to her.

"Yes, perfectly all right." Raven said. "I'm just tired. I was up like all night, remember?" She looked at him sharply.

"Okay, okay." Nero sighed. "Guilty as charged." He took her hand. "This evening… one of the men on the council is having some kind of party. And I want you to go by yourself."

"Why?" Raven asked.

"I don't trust him." Nero said. "I think you'll be able to find out anything he has to hide…"

"And what if he asks me to stay for the night?" Raven said coolly.

"Go ahead." Nero said.

Raven's face flushed. "Oh, so that's why you brought me along?"

"No." Nero said. "I need you, and I wanted to spend time with you-"

"And this is just an added bonus." Raven hissed. Then she took a deep breath, and seemed to calm down. "Fine. Whatever. I'll do what you want."

But Nero got the sense that it was not fine at all.


	8. Chapter 8

Nyss woke up. She looked around and saw she was in a helicopter. She ran to the window and giggled. "Ooh! I love this!"

"Get away from that." Said the man.

"You didn't say please." Nyss took a deep breath. "Momma says you have to say please. I asked why and she said because it's polite and I asked why and she said I don't know and I said why and she said Nyss Marianna Nero if you ask one more question I'll get out my tranquilizer gun and I said why and she got it out and… yeah." Nyss took another breath. "Do you have a tranquillizer gun? I want one. I think it would be fun. Then I could go around the school and shoot anyone who saw me so I could do whatever I want. And steal cookies. I like cookies. Especially chocolate chip. I like it when Momma makes then because then I eat then right after they come out of the oven and I burn my fingers but they're all melty and they taste so good." Another breath. "But sometimes Momma burns then and she doesn't make cookies very often because she's always busy doing…. stuff. Do you do stuff? I love doing stuff. It's a great excuse for missing stuff. That's what my mom says when she misses stuff. She says I was doing stuff and I go what stuff and she says it doesn't matter and I say really and she says yes and I say are you sure and she says Nyssa Marianna-"

"PLEASE STOP TALKING." The man yelled.

"There." Nyss said. "You said please, so I stopped talking. That's how things work in The Real World-"

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!"

###

Wing returned to the room a couple of minutes later.

"I could not catch up to him." He said. "He escaped."

"Oh." Otto frowned. "I'm going to tell Raven."

"Are you certain you want to do that?" Wing said. "I'm closer to her-"

"I'm just gonna send her a message." Otto said. "There's no way I'm calling her. She'd scream at me something awful…"

"Yes…" Wing said. "A message would probably be wiser."

###

"Natalya…" Nero went over to her and put his arms around her. "Calm down. I'm sorry. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to."

"It's my job. I work for you." Raven said flatly.

"But I love you." Nero said. "And that comes first."

"I guess." Raven leaned against him.

"You guess."

"That's what I just said." Raven muttered.

"Lovely." Nero sighed. "You want to go get lunch?"

"Sure." Raven said. She started pulling on her boots. She stopped as her blackbox beeped.

"Text from Otto." She looked down at it. "_&*(&."_

"What?" Nero said, grabbing it from her.

"Nyss's been kidnapped." Raven said. "We've got to get back there-"

"No." Nero said. "We can't go back."

"Why not?!" Raven spluttered. "We have time to be there and back before the meeting thingy and that's the real reason we're here."

"What good will it do?" Nero said. "Whoever took them is probably far from there by now. There is no point."

"But…" A tear trickled down Raven's cheek, but Nero pretended not to see it. "But…"

Nero embraced her again, kissing the top of her head. "I know it's hard. But we'll have to look for her after we get back."

"I…" Raven sighed. "Okay." She leaned up and kissed him for a moment, then stepped away, looking upset.

"Thank you." Nero said. "I'm sure Nyss'll be fine, you know. You're a lot alike."

"That's not a good thing." Raven said grimly.

"I think it is." Nero said.

"That's you, isn't it?" Raven said. "Your opinion doesn't count, because you're in love with me."

Nero took a deep breath. "And I know this probably isn't a good time…"

"No." said Raven.

"But about the baby…"

"I SAID NO!" Raven yelled. She took a deep breath. "Sorry. Didn't mean to shout."

"I know." Nero said. "But can you please just listen?"

Raven nodded.

"This might be our last chance, Natalya." Nero said. "I'm not exactly getting any younger here."

Raven bit her lip.

"I'll think about it."


	9. Chapter 9

"What do we do now?" Wing said.

"We should go get Laura." Otto said. "And Shelby."

"But we aren't allowed to tell them that Raven has children." Wing said, frowning.

"We won't." Otto said. "We'll say…"

"What, we just found him somewhere?" Wing said.

"Yeah!" Otto grinned.

Wing sighed. "Well… good luck with that."

###

Raven sat down at the table, Nero next to her. She opened up the menu.

"It's nice that it's outside." Nero said quietly.

"What? Er… yeah." Raven said distractedly. Her nausea was back in full force, but she didn't dare say anything because of what Max would think. He'd come up with some stupid theory…

She realized that Nero was staring at her. "Sorry, what?"

He sighed. "You've been awfully spacy lately, Natalya."

"I know." Raven sighed. "I'll pay more attention in the future."

"Nyss is probably thinking this is just a big game." Nero said, squeezing her hand under the table.

"But Max, it isn't a game…" Raven put her head down on the table.

"She'll be _fine_." Nero said. "Look, whoever took her probably needed her for something. So they won't kill her, I promise."

"I'm not worried about her dying." Raven hissed. "There are other ways to hurt people, you know."

"They won't make her kill anyone, she's four years old." Nero sighed.

"I never said anything about that." Raven said, smirking.

"I know." Nero spluttered. "I was just thinking…"

"Admit it, you'reafraid too." Raven said. "She's like your daughter."

"But she's not." Nero said.

"She's as good as!" Raven snapped, her temper flaring. "Who else've you got that's closer?"

"No one." Nero said. "But that won't last long if I have anything to say about it."

Raven sighed. "How do we always end up on this subject?"

"I have no idea." Nero sighed.

A waitress came over to the table. "May I take your order?" she said.

"Um, yes." Raven said. "I want a grilled cheese sandwich-" She clapped her hand over her mouth. "And he eats food. Excuse me."

She pushed past her and ran off.

"Sorry." Nero said. "She's not feeling well." He ordered, then sat and waited for Raven to return. By the time she came back, the food had come.

"Okay now?" Nero said.

"Yes." Raven said. She picked moodily at her sandwich.

"Not hungry?" Nero said.

"Yep." Raven muttered. She took a sip of water.

"I know you don't want this but I have a suspicion that you don't have choice." Nero said softly.

"Can't be." Raven said dismissively. "I was at the doctor just yesterday… he would have told me."

"It might have been too early for him to tell." Nero said. "Plus we were together last night, remember?"

"I dunno…" Raven said. "I think you're making some big assumptions there, Max."

"We could check." Nero said.

"I don't know…" Raven said.

"Come on." Nero said. "Isn't it better to know for sure?"

Raven winced. She mumbled something.

"What was that?" Nero said, leaning in closer.

"I'm scared." Raven muttered.

"Why?" Nero said. "We know what to do now."

"That doesn't make it any harder on me!" Raven spluttered.

"I know." Nero said. "But you wouldn't have to do everything this time."

"I'd still be stuck here!" Raven snapped. "And that's the part I hate the most!"

"I know you hate it." Nero said soothingly. He grabbed her hand again and started to stroke it. "But isn't it worth it?"

Raven sighed. "NO!"  
Nero blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! Being stuck at HIVE for nine months and in return getting another annoying thing that depends on you for everything?! SO NOT WORTH IT."

Nero winced. "I- I didn't know you felt like that."

"Well I do!" Raven leaned back in her chair and took a bite of sandwich. "So there!"

###

Laura hugged a sleeping Adrian to her chest. "He's so ADORABLE!"

Otto nodded. He had no idea why Laura was freaking out like this but Adrian seemed to make her happy, and that was all that mattered.

"He is." Shelby said. She shrugged. "I bet he's really annoying when he's awake, though."

"Not really." Otto said. "He's pretty easy to handle."

Laura sighed happily. "I want one like him…"

Otto flushed.

WHACK!

"OW!" Otto yelled. "What the heck was that for, Shelby?!"

"Because I could _see_ the perverted thoughts going through your little brain." Shelby snapped. "And I'm stopping you before you do something you'll regret."

"I don't think I'd regret it." Otto said, staring at Laura and Adrian.

"Yes, you would." Shelby smacked her fist into her open palm. "Yes, you would…"

**And I have no idea if Raven should have another baby or not, so if you have an opinion please review and tell me!**


	10. Chapter 10

_Raven stared down at the tiny strip of paper that was threatening to destroy her life. She looked away, but the word seemed burned into her vision…. POSITIVE. _

"_Natalya…?" Nero called. _

"_Coming!" Raven yelled, ducking back into the room._

"_Thank you." Nero sighed. He looked her up and down. "There's a girl on your sweater…"_

_Raven pulled it off and gritted her teeth. There was a girl there… a little one with dark hair lying in some sort of pool drawn in blue marker. _

"_NYSS!" Raven yelled. Her sister appeared in the doorway with a toothbrush in her mouth. _

"_Blub?"_

"_Nyss, I've told you not to draw on my stuff!" Raven yelled._

"_Blub." Nyss shrugged. "Blub blub blub." She walked out of the room. Raven gritted her teeth. _

"_It's okay…" Nero said, putting his arm around her waist. "Natalya, calm down."_

"_I'm fine." Raven said. She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Let's go."_

"So…" Raven said slowly. "If I am… expecting…. what would they do to me to let it live?"

"Well…" Nero said slowly. "You know how you're fine for a while, then your body malfunctions and it dies?"

"Yeah." Raven said.

"They'd keep it inside you for as long as possible, then force you to give birth early." Nero said. "Then it would live in some kind of incubator until it was full grown."

"Okay…" Raven said. _Good. Less trouble for me_.

"But it would be risky." Nero said. "The baby might not survive… but there's still a good chance it would be okay."

Raven bit her lip.

"Okay." She said. "We'll go back… and then I'll take a pregnancy test."

Nero smiled. "And whatever happens, you know I'll be behind you, right?"

"Yeah..." Raven leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know."

###

"Excuse me?"

Otto looked up from Laura and Adrian and saw a boy with dark hair and blue eyes watching him. Next to him stood another girl with blond hair and blue eyes. They were holding hands.

"Er… yeah?" Otto said.

"What are you doing with Adrian?" he said.

"Um… I'm babysitting him." Otto said. "Who are you?"

"My name is Benn." He said. "Benn Nero. This is Dahlia." The girl smiled.

Laura looked at Otto. He was staring at Dahlia like he'd never seen another girl before. She stared down at Adrian, squeezing him tightly.

"_I want one like him_." Her voice seemed to echo in her ears. It was true. She wanted a baby and she wanted it from Otto. But obviously… that was ridiculous. Shelby had brought her back from her stupid dream. They were both only fourteen years old… and not much more than friends yet… but she had a feeling that was going to change.

"How do you know about Adrian?" Otto said.

"I'm his cousin." Benn shoved his hands in his pockets. Dahlia was wearing a H.I.V.E. uniform but he had on jeans and a camouflage jacket.

"Er… what?" Otto said.

"I'm Raven's sister's son." Benn said, looking a little annoyed.

"Raven?" Laura looked up at him. "What does Adrian have to do with Raven?"

"He's her son." Wing said. "She also has a daughter, but she was kidnapped."

"Really?" Laura said. She rubbed her head. "That's _weird…_"

"Yes," Wing said. "it is definitely weird."

"With Nero?" Shelby said.

"What?" Otto said.

"Are Adrian and his sister Nero's children?" Shelby said.

"No, don't be ridiculous." Otto scoffed.

"It was just an idea." Shelby said. "Besides…"

Everyone looked at her.

"I overheard then talking a couple of months ago and it sounded like Nero and Raven tried to have a baby but it died before it was born." Shelby said very fast.

"Really?!" Laura spluttered.

"Yeah, I think they're in love but have been keeping it a secret from everyone." Shelby said.

Otto, Wing and Laura all looked at each other.

"Yeah… that would actually make sense…" Otto said slowly. "And it also would make sense why they kept it a secret… I mean, he's really important and she's an assassin… people would try to kill them." He frowned. "But I think Nero said he didn't know who Adrian's father was."

"Adrian's dad?" Benn said. "Oh, yeah. Adrian's dad… I can't remember his name but it seems like he forced Raven into it and she didn't know for a long, long time…" He frowned. "Strangely, she didn't seem angry with him…"

"Weird." Otto said. "That doesn't really sound like her."

"I know." Benn shrugged. "But I suppose she had her reasons."

###

Raven sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Nero to come back with the results of the test. She wasn't sure what she wanted to happen, but she didn't like not knowing things so she guessed that this was best.

_I wonder what Nyss is doing right now…_

Nero came back in. His face was expressionless.

"Well?" Raven said.


	11. Chapter 11

Nero put his arms around her. "Nothing. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Raven shrugged. She glanced at her blackbox. "Geez. I should probably start getting ready." She sighed. "I bet you have a dress for me."

"Correct." Nero said, standing up. "I'll go grab it."

While he was gone, Raven buried her face in her pillow and started to cry.

###

Raven stood on the outskirts of the crowded room feeling out of place. She wished Nero could have come with her. She felt like she was about to throw up.

"Hello." Said a voice. She turned around and saw a man who fit the description of the guy she couldn't trust. She swore in her head. _Why can't I remember his name?_

"Hi." She smiled. _I'm supposed to flirt with him…. Crap, I suck at that. I am sooooo screwed…_

"You work for Nero, correct?" he said, taking her hand. They started dancing.

_CURSE YOU FURAN FOR NOT TEACHING ME ANYTHING APPLICABLE IN THIS SITUATION. _

"Yes." Raven said.

_Great. Have not managed to act like idiot yet._

"Yet you came here alone." One of his hands was on her waist but she didn't feel nervous.

"Yeah…" She sighed. "He's too strict."

"Really." He smiled.

"I suppose he's just used to being in charge…" Raven looked around. _This stupid dress is itchy. _

"Between you and me…" He leaned in to whisper in her ear and her face flushed. "he might not be for much longer."

"Really?" Raven murmured back.

"Yes." He straightened up as the song ended. "See you later?"

"Certainly." Raven smiled. As he walked away, her smiled faded and she leaned against the wall.

_On a scale of one to ten, how did I do? Um, negative 7,000. _

She went over to a door and opened it. No one seemed to be paying attention to her, so she ventured deeper into the giant house. She found a cozy room with bookshelves and sat down near the fire. She kicked off her shoes and sighed.

"Nice to see you, Natalya." Said a voice.

Gayle.

It got hard to breathe. Raven rubbed her head. "Leave me alone."

He walked over and pulled her to her feet. He looked like he had aged ten years for her every one.

"You know, it is only human what you feel for me." He started pushing her slowly towards the fire.

"I don't feel anything." Raven said. "Not after what you pulled."

"Really." He pushed her closer and put his arms around her. "Take off that dress."

"Never." Raven spat.

"Take it off or you'll burn." Gayle pushed her closer to the flames.

"No." Raven said. "Are you crazy? No!"

"I'm only human." Galye hissed. "I can't help what I feel."

"You ARE crazy." Raven growled. "Never."

"Okay, then." Gayle shoved her backward. Raven gasped as pain shot up her leg.

"Okay, okay!" she yelled, slowly unzipping her dress. "You win!"

"I knew it." Gayle said. "You really do like me, don't you?"

Raven said nothing.

###

"Thank you." Gayle said. He smiled at Raven, who looked weakly back up at him. "Let's keep this our little secret, Natalya."

Raven still said nothing. She pulled her dress back on, and made a furious move towards Gayle.

"No." Gayle said. He shoved her backwards. She lost her balance and fell hard. Her head hit something hard and she lay dazed as Gayle left the room. Her shoulder felt like it was burning- her shoulder was burning! She sat up, inspecting it. It was an angry red. She swore. _Stupid, stupid Gayle…_

"You alright?"

It was the man from before, the one she'd danced with. "Yes, thank you." Raven smiled as sweetly as she could.

"You look tired." He put his arm around her shoulder, stroking her hair. _I wish Max was here_."Why don't you stay here for the night?"

"Sure." She said.

"And…" He smiled. "We can talk."

###

Raven woke up with her shoulder throbbing. She slipped from the bed, careful not to wake the man- his name was Aaron, actually- and pulled on her jacket. She went downstairs and let herself out the door.

Once she returned to Nero and her room, she took off her dress and got into the shower, trying to erase the memories of the night. She cried out as she realized she had scrubbed so hard her hands were bleeding. She sank to the floor and started crying hysterically, letting the warm water wash over her.

"Hey." Nero said. She wasn't sure where he had come from, but he turned off the water and forced her to her feet, wrapping a towel around her shoulders. "Natalya? Something wrong?"

Raven shook her head.

"You sure?" Nero said. His expression was so kind she couldn't bear to tell him of her treachery. So she just buried herself in his shoulder and sobbed.


	12. Chapter 12

"Okay, okay." Nero sat down on the edge of the bed. "Don't want to talk, huh?"

Raven hiccupped and quickly shook her head.

"Are you hurt?" Nero said. Raven pointed jerkily at her shoulder. Nero pulled the towel away, exposing the angry red burns.

"Who did this to you?" Nero said softly.

"Gayle." Raven muttered.

"Gayle?" Nero frowned. "Is he the reason you're crying?"

Raven shrugged, burying her head in his shoulder again.

"Did Gayle… do something else to you?"

At that, Raven began crying again.

"I'm sorry." Nero whispered. She seemed weak and… exposed somehow, like whatever made her hard most of the time had been ripped off.

"'S not your fault." Raven shrugged. "I found out that guy… Aaron… he's planning to attack us after the council meeting tomorrow."

"Good job." Nero ruffled her hair. "Are you tired? It's four in the morning and you've been up most of the night."

Raven nodded.

"You should probably dry off first." Nero said.

Raven stayed totally still.

Nero sighed, then took the towel from her and rubbed her dry, then helped her into bed. She closed her eyes, latching her fingers around his.

"I…" Raven muttered. "I… wasn't faithful to you…"

"What do you mean?" Nero said.

"I didn't want to burn." Raven whispered, and then fell asleep.

Nero frowned. He'd get the full story from her in the morning, after she'd recovered. He lay down next to her, still holding her hand, and was soon asleep.

###

Nyss was fast asleep by the time the helicopter arrived at its destination. She stirred as the man picked her up and started walking, but wherever she was seemed boring and so she drifted off again. She woke up when the man set her down in some bed and tucked her in.

She opened her eyes. "Who are you? What are you doing with me?"

A woman was standing next to the man now. She smiled at Nyss.

"We're protecting you, sweetheart." She sat down on the edge of her bed and took Nyss's hand.

"From who?" Nyss said sleepily.

"From your mum." The woman said.

"My mum… would never hurt me…" Nyss mumbled.

"That's what she told you." the woman said. "Did you know you used to have a sister?"

"A sister?"

"Her name was Marianna, and she looked just like you." the woman said. "But then when she was younger then you, your mother murdered her."

"Really?" Nyss said, her eyes wide with fear.

"Yes." The woman said. "You don't want to die, do you?"

Nyss shook her head, terrified.

"Then stay here and be a good girl." The woman smiled. She and the man left the room, turning off the light behind her.

"I thought your boss killed the little girl, and Natalya killed Nyss." Furan said.

"Creative license." Anastasia shrugged. "She's like her mum, if we had told her we'd taken her she wouldn't have listened."

"Good point." Furan frowned. "But what about when she finds out you're lying?"

"She won't if I have anything to say about it." Anastasia said, smirking.

###

When Raven woke up, she felt… different. She lay in Nero's arms for a while, trying to figure out exactly what it was. She felt better then she had the night before, certainly…

"Morning." Nero smiled at her. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you." Raven sat up. "I… er… I want to…"

She was about to tell him that she wanted to take the test again, but then decided against it. He would ask questions…

"Want to what?" Nero said.

"I want to have pie for breakfast." Raven invented wildly. "Apple pie, with caramel sauce." _Mmm…_

Nero laughed. "Okay, Natalya. You can have your pie."

"Thank you." Raven yawned and got up. She went into the bathroom and quickly repeated what she'd done yesterday afternoon. Now she had to wait. She changed, then went back to Nero.

"I called room service." He said. "Your pie will be here in a few minutes."

"Excellent." Raven grinned.

"You really are feeling better." Nero smiled. "That's good."

"Yeah." Raven said. "The council meeting is today, right?"

"Yep, this afternoon." Nero said. "We have time to do something before then, though."

After breakfast, she went back to check the results, her heart in her mouth.

POSITIVE.

Raven sank to her knees, exhilarated. Then she thought of something.

_Who's baby is this?_


	13. Chapter 13

Shelby yawned as she sat down at the table. Nigel frowned at her. "Where are Laura and Wing and Otto? I haven't seen them all day."

"I am right here." said Wing, sitting down next to Shelby. "And Otto and Laura are…"

"Er, doing homework." Shelby invented. _Actually, they spent the night in Raven's room looking after Adrian. _She bit her lip. _I hope Laura knows what she's doing…_

"Are you sure?" Franz said. "Because it was looking a lot like kissing to me."

Shelby shrugged. "Hey- how'd you get my pancakes from all the way over there?!"

Franz smiled. "I am being a ninja."

"Great." muttered Shelby.

Just then, Laura and Otto entered, talking about something.

"Hi." Shelby tapped Laura on the shoulder, trying to pry her away from Otto.

Laura turned around, smiled, then went back to Otto. Shelby crossed her arms and stared down at the table, noticing how messy Laura's hair was. And she looked like she'd zipped up her jumpsuit in a hurry…

"Are you all right?" Wing said.

"Yes, fine." Shelby said. "Just hoping that Laura knows what she's doing, that's all. She's pretty…. Innocent."

"I know." Wing said. "I'm sure you can beat Otto up if anything happens, though."

Shelby smiled as a picture formed inside her head.

"Er… what are you thinking about?" Nigel said. "Because you look pretty terrifying right now…"

###

Raven wasn't at the meeting, really. She was on the roof, looking around for anything suspicious. She kept replaying her conversation with Nero in her head.

"_Max?" she said, stepping out of the bathroom. _

"_Yeah?" Nero said. "Is something wrong?"_

"_You got what you wanted." Raven said, sitting down on the bed. _

_Nero's face was blank for a second, and then lit up. He threw his arms around her. _

"_Maybe." Raven said. "It might not be your baby. I was with Gayle last night, and that other guy."_

_Nero swore. _

"_We can find out somehow, can't we?" Raven asked. "When we get back to H.I.V.E.?"_

"_Not until it's born, I think." Nero said. "But-"_

"Raven, I need your help."

She looked around. "Hello? Who's there?"

In the sunlight, she could barely make out the figure of a man leaning against the door to the roof. She walked over to him. "Overlord?"

"Yes." He said.

"Why should I help you?" Raven said cautiously.

"I saved your life." Overlord said. "I've been keeping you from Gayle all this time. I told Aaron where to go to find you last night. And I made you wake up early so you could return to Nero. Gayle would have captured you and forced you to be his companion otherwise."

"How can I know you aren't just making it up?" Raven said. "Nero told me what you did."

"I would never hurt you." Overlord said. He sounded weak. "And I just need a small favor…"

"What?" Raven said.

"Let me into your blackbox."

"What?" Raven said. "No!"

"I gave you your children." Overlord hissed. "I can just as easily take them back."

"Oh, so now you're threatening me."

"I'm dying, Natalya!"

"SO WHY SHOULD I HELP YOU?!" Raven yelled.

"I can kill them." Overlord said. "All I have to do is snap my fingers…"

"Fine!" Raven pulled out her blackbox. "Whatever."

"Thanks." There was a swishing sound and then Overlord was gone.

Raven sighed and sat down.

"How are our kids?"

"Are you still here?"

"Yes."

"Go away."

"I can't."

"Go away anyways."

"You're mean." He said, pouting.

"Yes, I am. My job is to be mean. Now buzz off."

"I said I can't. I'm stuck with you. So we might as well talk civilly. How are Nyss and Adrian doing?"

"Fine." Raven said.

"And am I correct in thinking that they will soon have a little brother or sister?"

"Yes." Raven grunted.

"Nyss is a lot like you, isn't she?" Overlord said. "Always making trouble."

"I do not make trouble. Trouble follows me. And Nyss is nothing like me. She cries when I break eggs. She thinks I'm killing baby chickens."

"Ah." Overlord said. "Why were you breaking eggs?"

"I was making brownies." Raven said. "They actually turned out, surprisingly."

"Yes… it doesn't seem like you'd be good at being a mother."

"I'm not." Raven said darkly. "I've left my kids in the care of a teenage albino psychopath."


	14. Chapter 14

**Nyss has lived at H.I.V.E. her entire life, so she doesn't know what a window is. Or snow. **

Nyss yawned as she woke up. Something smelled really good…

She opened her eyes and found a plate of pancakes smothered in whipped cream waiting for her. She grabbed them and quickly devoured them.

_Not as good as Mommy's_.

She looked around her bedroom. It looked pretty normal, but there was… a sort of mini door about five feet off the ground. She dragged the table next to her bed over to it. Still not high enough. She gathered all her pillows and piled them on top. Then she pulled all the drawers out of the bedside table and stacked those too.

"There!" Nyss surveyed the teetering pile with satisfaction. _Now how the heck do I get up there?_

She solved the problem by bouncing off her bed and onto the pile. The drawers creaked underneath her, but they held. She discovered the door thing was a pane of glass in the wall. She peeked out through it and saw… great big piles of white fluffy stuff.

"It rains sugar…" Nyss whispered.

"What are you doing?" It was the woman.

"Can I go outs-"

She wasn't sure what had happened- maybe the pillows slipped, or one of the drawers cracked. But the next thing she knew, she was on the floor and her knee hurt.

"Oh, dear." The woman said. "Is it bleeding?"

Nyss nodded. "Can I have a band-aid?"

"Yes." She said.

"A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle one?" Nyss asked hopefully.

The woman looked confused.

"What about Disney Princess?" Not really her style, but she'd take it. "Or pirates?"

The woman was now giving her Momma's Nyssa-Marinna-Nero-You-Are-Really-An-Alien-Life-form,-Aren't-You? look.

"'K, fine." Nyss sighed. "I'll just have a regular one… but can I also have a pink marker so I can make it match my shirt?"

The woman looked exasperated, but nodded.

"Thanks." Nyss said. "Hey… what's your name?"

"Anastasia." The woman said.

"Can I call you Cia for short?"

"Why not?" Anastasia grumbled.

"I don't know." Nyss said seriously. "Maybe a Very Mean Person called you that once, and you don't like it anymore."

"I was being sarcastic." Cia grunted.

"Oh." Nyss nodded wisely, though she had no idea what that meant. "Where's Adrian?"

"Your brother is at home."

"Are you going to rescue him too?" Nyss asked. "It's boring here without him. I have no one to torture."

"Ah." Cia said. "Well, I suppose I could find you a playmate…. But not right now."

"Can I go outside?" Nyss asked.

"No." Cia said. "Later."

"Why?" Nyss whined. "I wanna play in the white stuff!"

"It's called snow." Cia said.

"Reeeeeeally?" Nyss asked.

"Yes." Cia said.

"Ahhhhh." Nyss nodded again. "What's it like?"

"It's very cold and wet and slippery." Cia said. "You wouldn't like it."

"You can't know until you try it!" Nyss chirped. Then she frowned. _Momma always says that when she wants me to eat something. _"What does it taste like?"

"Ice." Cia said.

"Ah." Nyss pointed at the square of glass. "What's that?"

"It's a window." Cia mumbled, smacking herself in the face.

###

Raven saw a group of men position themselves where she was supposed to meet Nero. She grinned. "Gotcha."

"Got what?" Overlord asked.

Raven sighed, then jumped off the roof, firing her grappler as she did so. She swung down and landed neatly in front of the men. There were four of them, and they all looked like they wanted to rip her head off.

_All the funner_.

"You know, you shouldn't do that sort of thing while you're pregnant."

Ignoring Overlord, Raven drew her swords and advanced on the first man. He pointed a gun at her but she sliced it in half, then plunged the second sword into her chest. She pulled it out, then ran for the second. He seemed to be smarter than the last one, actually getting in a few blows before she killed him.

The third man backed up, looking frightened. But where was the fourth? She jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the bullet aimed at her back.

"How'd you get over there?" Raven said, skewering the third man.

The fourth man, who wasn't actually a man at all, laughed. "I flew."

"Lovely." Raven said, narrowing her eyes.

"Angelique Miceli, at your service." The woman smirked. She fired again at Raven, who didn't move fast enough. She cried out as it pierced her thigh, falling to her knees.

Angelique advanced on her. "Well, that was easy." She said mockingly, pointing the gun at Raven's head. Suddenly, Raven jumped up, all her power put into a blow aimed straight at Angelique's chest.

Angelique shot up… and up… and up…

_Holy crap, she can fly._

Raven hurled her sword at her, confused and annoyed. It hit its target, carving a deep chunk out of Angelique's side. She wobbled, then began to fall.

"Natalya?"

Raven turned around to see Nero standing behind her.

"Let's go home." She said, taking his hand.


	15. Chapter 15

Raven could not be parted from Adrian's side for three days after her return, but finally calmed down when Otto suggested they super-glue themselves together. She seemed a little different, though, but Otto couldn't place how. Maybe it was just that Otto knew her secret now, but he didn't think so. He forgot about it, though, with Laura and school and all that.

Mostly Laura. It was nearly impossible to separate the two of them now, to Shelby's annoyance. She didn't appreciate being kept up all night by people talking in the other bed. And she was worried for Laura too.

###

Adrian was sitting on Raven's bed while she brushed his hair, humming quietly to himself. Raven smiled, but she couldn't help sadness from swelling up inside her. Nyss would rather be force-fed spinach then have her hair brushed, and often she'd have to chase her around for hours trying to get her to look presentable.

"Momma?" Adrian turned around to look at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, fine." Raven smiled. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"My sister." Adrian said, leaning against her.

Raven blinked hard. "We're looking for her, sweetheart."

"But you can't find her?" Adrian asked.

"No." Raven said sadly, smoothing his curls. "The world is a big place."

Adrian sighed. "Can I have my brother?"

"No, he isn't ready to come out yet." Raven said.

"Awww…" Adrian yawned. "Can I have a tank?"

"No." Raven said.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Tanks are for big boys only."

"But I am a big boy! I'm going to be five!"

"That doesn't mean you get a tank." Raven yawned. "I guess I ought to start training you, shouldn't I."

"Yes, please!" Adrian squealed.

"Okay, we'll start next week." Raven said.

"Good. Can I fight Wing then?"

"No, I don't think you're quite ready for that." Raven said, kissing his forehead.

Adrian pouted for a moment, then asked "Can I fight Wing with a tank?"

"I think we've established that there will be no tanks under the control of Adrian Maximilliain Nero." Raven said.

"Bother." Adrian frowned. "Can I go play with Otto and Laura and Shelby and Wing?"

"No." Raven scooped him up. "You've got to go have a nap, 'kay?"

"Okay."

As Adrian vanished into his room, Raven pulled a box out from underneath her bed and started going through the contents. It was filled with baby clothes, and she pulled out the boy ones and stacked them in piles around her-

She pulled out an album. The cover was dusty. She bit her lip, then tossed it carelessly to the side and continued with her sorting.

"Who's this?"

Raven whipped around. Otto was standing behind her, holding the album open.

"That's me." Raven said coldly. "When I was your age."

"I know." Otto said. "Who's _this_?"

He pointed at the baby in Raven's arms.

"That's Marianna." Raven snapped. "And the man next to me was Nero, when he was younger. And the girl over there is Nyss."

She went back to her sorting. Otto flipped through the album. Halfway through, the pictures just stopped.

"What's up with that?" Otto said, showing it to Raven. "Did you lose your camera or something?"

From the look on Raven's face he knew he had said something wrong.

"She _died._" Raven spat, yanking it from his hands. "Why are you here, Malpense?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Nothing is preventing you." Raven growled, turning back around. "Speak."

"Um… it was about babies-"

Raven whipped her head around so fast she had to rub her neck. "Malpense, if there's something you need to talk to Dr. Nero about, do not think you'll be able to get _me _to say it and lessen your punishment just because I happen to be in his good graces-"

"It's not like that!" Otto spluttered.

"Good." Raven spat. "Because if you do anything of that sort to Laura Brand, I swear I will rip your face off and throw you to the sharks."

Otto swallowed. "I was wondering where I could find, you know, birth control stuff here."

Raven sighed. "Now I'm _really _worried."

"Why?" Otto said.

"Er- because you've been sleeping with Laura Brand for the past five months?" Raven said, rolling her eyes. "And have just now bothered to think of this?"

"Oh- er- actually I thought of it a while ago I just never got around to it-"

"So you were too lazy." Raven said, rolling her eyes. "And why are you asking _me_, anyway?"

"Because you're the only staff person I know of who has kids and stuff." Otto said, shrugging. "And you and Nero are always-"

"_Don't_ finish that sentence." Raven said, turning back around. "And go ask him, I haven't the foggiest."

"Great." Otto sighed. "Thanks."

"Welcome." Raven yawned. "And tell him six o'clock on Saturday, will you?"

"What for?" Otto said.

"Doctor's appointment." Raven grunted. "Just do it, will you?"

"Fine." Otto said. "Bye."


	16. Chapter 16

"_Hey, Natalya?"_

_She saw Zac. "What?" she grunted. She didn't understand why he kept talking to her. It wasn't like they were friends or anything. _

"_I… want you to meet someone." Zac said. He moved to the side slightly, revealing a boy with blond hair. Natalya stared at him. His hair was all… swoopy and stuff. And he was wearing skinny jeans. What self-respecting boy wears skinny jeans? _

_WHY COULDN'T SHE STOP STARING AT HIM LIKE AN IDIOT?!_

_She looked away, leaning back on her bed. A moment later, she realized that was a mistake. Skinny Jeans was now staring at her like she was made of gold or something. _

"_This is my brother." Zac said nervously. "Gayle. Gayle, Natalya. Natalya, Gayle."_

_He stepped back, like he had just introduced two nuclear bombs and was unsure which was going to blow up first._

"_How old are you?" Gayle asked. _

"_Fourteen." Natalya said, putting her hands behind her head. _

"_Me, too." He put his arm around Zac. "He's my little brother."_

"_I'm aware of this." Natalya said frostily._

"_Oh, so you're playing hard-to-get, aren't you?" Gayle leaned forward. Zac backed up, looking nervous. _

"_If you're attracted to me, go out and say it." Natalya said. _

"_Is that really any of your business?" Gayle said, matching her icy tone. He sat down on the edge of her bed. "What's with that uniform? It's totally unflattering."  
"That doesn't matter, we're all required to wear it." Natalya said, rolling her eyes. _

"_What, so you're afraid to break the mold? Stand up for yourself?"_

"_No, I just have bigger things to worry about." Natalya rolled her eyes. What an idiot. _

"_I think it looks better like this." Before she could do anything, Gayle undid the buttons on her shirt. _

_Natalya snatched at it, holding it closed. "And I think you're a pervert who has better things to do then stare at me all day." _

"_Oh, so I'm staring at you?" Gayle leaned closer. "So you admit your noticing me?"_

"_It's impossible not to, as your in my face." Natalya sighed. "ZAC! GET YOUR DAMN PERVERTED BROTHER AWAY FROM ME!"_

_Unfortunately for her, Zac had fled. She noticed that people were staring. She supposed she was considered 'scary' now. She better be, after all that she'd done._

_Gayle seemed to notice too. "This place is crowded. Why don't we go somewhere… more private?"_

"_Like I'd want to be alone with you." Natalya scoffed. As a matter of fact, she wasn't so sure she would mind very much. _

"_Sure about that?" He got closer, until they were almost touching noses. She stared up at him, into his cold blue eyes. _

"_Not really…" Natalya said, smiling coldly and starting to release her grip on her shirt. "But we'll get in trouble if we got outside."_

"_I wasn't talking about going outside." He pulled the thin blanket from her bed and tucked it in so it made a tent around the bottom bunk. "There. Instant privacy."_

"_It's open on one side." Natalya pointed out. _

"_I'll go get my own blanket." Gayle said. He frowned. "Only… I don't know where I'm sleeping." _

"_Idiot." Natalya said conversationally. "You can stay here for tonight, I suppose."_

"_Really?" Gayle said. He grabbed her hand and kissed it. Natalya felt her face grow warm. "Thank you, fair lady… although I suppose you aren't really a lady if you'll accept me staying here so easily…"_

"_I'm not worried." Natalya said. "If you do something I don't like, I can rip your throat out."_

"_I'd break your neck first." Gayle said. _

_Natalya smirked. "It seems we're at an impasse."_

"_No, actually. I'd be winning."_

"_Fine. I surrender myself." Natalya yawned and rolled over onto her back. Gayle lay down next to her, leaning over towards her. _

"_Have you even been kissed?"_

"_No." Natalya said. "I don't suppose I'd like it very much-"_

_She was cut off as Gayle cupped her face in his hands and jammed his lips up against hers. She tolerated it for several seconds, then shoved him off. _

"_I was right. I think you spit in my eye."_

"_Fine then, we'll just skip that part." Gayle said. Natalya looked up and caught a glimpse of the look in Gayle's eyes. Fear flashed through her, but she pushed it away. _I can't be afraid of anything, even this…

"Momma?" Adrian said, pulling on her shirt. "Is something wrong?"

"What?" Raven smiled down at him. "No…"

She ran her hand through her hair, trying to forget the memory that had just flashed through her mind. But the recollection refused to disappear…

_Marianna wasn't actually my first child…._


	17. Chapter 17

Raven knocked on the door to Nero's rooms. He opened it.

"Whoa..." Nero mumbled.

"Er…" Raven said, her face going red.

"What did you _do_?" Nero said, putting his hands on her shoulders and studying her.

"Makeup." Raven said.

"You're wearing _makeup_?" Nero said.  
"Yes. It took me a half-hour of experimentation and I nearly had to call Shelby, but I managed it." Raven smiled.

"I'll say you did." Nero said.

"Hi!" Adrian said. He ran forward and hugged Nero's legs. Nero scooped him up, grunting. "Wow, you're getting so big…"

"I know." Raven followed him into his rooms and sat down on the couch.

"Saturday?" Nero said, sitting down next to her with Adrian on his lap.

"Yep." Raven leaned up against him. "Who are Otto's parents?" She did her best to sound innocently curious, but Nero seemed to instantly go on alert.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, you know. He looks like Gayle so…" Raven instantly regretted saying Gayle's name as Nero clenched one fist.

"He's a clone of number one." Nero said carefully. "Created by Overlord."

"Oh." Raven said. "I just wanted to know… er… I'm worried about him."

"About Malpense?" Nero raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression you… hated his every molecule."

"No, he's just annoying." Raven shrugged. "And I'm not worried specifically about him. I'm worried about him… and Brand."

"Ah…." Nero said. "Now _that_ makes sense."

"Yes, if he isn't careful something might… happen." Raven finished lamely.

"I understand what you're talking about but they'll have to take care of themselves, Natalya." Nero said.

"Can't we just shove him in the brig?"

Nero laughed grimly. "No, Natalya." He put his arm around her, setting one hand over her stomach. "Does anyone know?"

"Nope. Still just Wing and you. I wanted to keep it a complete secret, but since I'm sparring with him I wouldn't want him to accidently hurt me."

"And everything is still going well?"

"Yep." Raven buried her head in his shoulder. "You smell like marshmallows."

"Lovely." Nero sighed. "You don't seem as… big as you should be, though."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked.

"You're too thin." Nero said. "Are you eating enough?"

"Yeah." Raven shifted to look away from him. "Anyway, we really start thinking about names."

"You aren't, are you?" Nero took her hand in his. "You're starving yourself so you don't show as much."

"No." Raven snapped. "Why would I do that?"

"Natalya…." Nero sighed. "You know you're in a delicate condition. It's very important for you to be healthy."

"I'm not! Geez!" Raven yelled. "I'm telling the truth!"

"It's true." Adrian said sleepily. "She ate 4 whole boxes of Girl Scout cookies yesterday."

Raven looked at Nero triumphantly.

"Why did you have Girl Scout cookies, Natalya?" Nero asked, looking exasperated.

"That is a really long story that doesn't need to be told right now. There is a reason, however, that I hate Otto Malpense's molecules…"

###

"Hey, Laura?"

Laura rolled over so she was facing Shelby. "Something wrong?"

"Um, yeah." Shelby said. "I'm worried about you."

"Worried about me?" Laura said. "Why, did I do something?"

"No, it's you and-"

"Hello?" Otto poked his head in the door.

"Hi." Laura said, smiling at him. They looked so happy, but Shelby felt cold inside. Otto came in and pulled Laura so close she was half in his lap, kissing the top of her head.

"We're having a Girl Conversation." Shelby snapped. "You aren't welcome."

"But I'm her boyfriend." He put his arms around Laura's waist. Laura closed her eyes and leaned back into him.

"Yeah." Shelby snapped. "Her BOYfriend. So you- hey, stop smooching and listen to me!"

Laura turned back to her, blushing. Otto sighed. "Look, can't you wait? Until I'm not here-"

"You're always here!" Shelby yelled. She jumped off her bed. "It's like you guys are freaking joined at the hip!"

She stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Then she paused and listened.

"She's right." Laura said. "I have been ignoring her ever since… well, ever since we both looked after Adrian that night."

"But you've still been having a good time, right?"

"But I need spend time with her too. She's like my best friend…" Laura said.

"Oh, don't get sad." Otto said.

Shelby had enough. She turned around and started walking off.


	18. Chapter 18

"_You got taller." Natalya said, studying Nyss carefully._

"_You didn't." Nyss said, curling her lip. "You got fatter. Are the rumors true?"_

"_Shut_ up._" Natalya looked anxiously at Anastasia who was standing a few feet away, pretending not to be listening. _

"_So they are." Nyss crossed her arms. "I wonder how much you had to pay the guy to get him to-"_

"_I said, shut up!" Natalya tried to shove her sister but Nyss grabbed her arm and twisted hard. Natalya winced. _

"_Now, now." Anastasia turned to look at them. "You two play nice, got it?"_

"_Got it." Natalya snapped, folding her arms over herself protectively. _

_Nyss said nothing, stepping hard on Natalya's foot. Natalya turned to glare at her. Nyss smiled cruelly then… winked._

_Natalya frowned. What was that? Was she just pretending to be mean or something? She hoped so…_

"Natalya? Are you awake?"

She rolled over, grabbing Nero's hand. "Yeah…"

"Just wondering, because you have almost all the blanket on account of your thrashing around."  
"Oops." Raven pulled more of the sheet over him. "Sorry. It's the baby, that's all."

"It's fine." Nero yawned. "Come here."

He pulled her closer and she rubbed her head against his shoulder. In minutes, she was asleep again.

###

"Max." Raven shook his shoulder. "Wake up."

He groaned and rolled over. "Wuzzamatter…?"

"I think I'm having contractions." Raven hissed. "Get up! Fast!"

Nero was instantly awake. He stood up and pulled on his bathrobe.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, positive and it's killing me." Raven said. She was already dressed.

"Then let's go to the hospital wing." Nero said, rushing out the door.

"What about Adrian?"

"He's asleep, we can call Shelby or someone on the way and they can watch him for the night." Nero said.

Raven nodded and started walking faster. "Hurry up!"

###

Gayle closed his eyes and let a slow smile spread across his face. "Everything is in place?"

"Yes, sir." Said the man next to him.

"Stand by." Gayle slowly reached out to the other part of him.

_Where is Raven and Nero?_

_The hospital wing. _Overlord hissed.

_For how long_?

_They'll probably there the whole day._

"Alright then." Gayle said. He opened his eyes. "We'll wait half an hour, then attack. Understand?"

"Understood, sir."

###

Shelby yawned. She was still waiting for Otto to emerge from Laura's room. Only then, she had decided, would she go back in. She'd drifted of a couple of times, but something had woken her up… her blackbox. It was beeping. She glanced at it. There was a message from Nero.

_Can you please watch Adrian for the night? It's an emergency. He's asleep in my quarters. Ask H.I.V. how to get there. _

Why not? Shelby yawned again, then started heading out of the accommodation block. "H.I.V. , can you tell me where Dr. Nero's room is?"

"Certainly. It is on the third floor next to a group of offices."

"Got it." Shelby said. Stupid Otto. Laura would have to wait.

###

"How is she?" Nero said, tapping his foot nervously.

"Unconscious but stable." The doctor next to him said. (It was the same man who'd told Raven that Gayle was Marianna's father, but Nero didn't know that.)

"Good." Nero sank into the chair behind him. He was tired, but the knowledge that Natalya was in pain kept him from drifting off. He sighed, wishing he could see her-

His blackbox beeped.

"Yes?" Nero said.

"Er… this is Chief Lewis. We've detected a whole bunch of ships or something like that about a mile from here."

"What, are we under attack?"

"Aparently-"

The transmission cut out, and something exploded.

"What's going on?" the doctor next to him asked.

"We're under attack." Nero said. He was struck by the sudden urge to take Raven and Adrian and leave, run away to somewhere safe. But that was impossible. If he tried to move Raven now it would be a death sentence for her and his unborn son. They had to wait until he was born.

"I want to be with her." Nero said.

"Fine." The doctor said. He led him into Raven's room. He took her hand and squeezed it hard. She opened her eyes a little, smiled, then closed them again.

Nero kissed her forehead, then turned to leave.

_Sorry, but you're going to have to do this on your own…_


	19. Chapter 19

Laura opened her eyes and sat up. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Otto said. He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I hear it too. Sounds like some kind of alarm-"

The alarm came on full force. Laura climbed out of bed and tried the door. "We're locked in."

"So?" Otto said. "Come back here, it's cold."

"Something bad's going on!" Laura snapped. "I don't want to be stuck in here while it happens!"

"But isn't it… cozy? Romantic? Something?" Otto sighed. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Fine…" Laura walked back over and leaned against him. "Mmmm… you're not cold at all…"

"Whatever." He ran his hand through her hair. Laura picked up her blackbox. "Looks like Raven's having some kind of emergency… Shelby's with Adrian."

"I was talking to her yesterday." Otto said. "She was sorting baby clothes. She seemed fine…"

"Sorting baby clothes?"

"Yeah. She was probably going to give them away." Otto yawned and pulled her closer, running one hand up and down her side.

"No, she wasn't!" Laura said, sitting up a little straighter. "She's going to have a baby, Otto! And something must have gone wrong…" She bit her lip. "I hope she's okay…"

"She'll be fine." Otto said. "And how do you get that she's going to have a baby from that?"

"Wing hasn't had a lot of training sessions with her lately. She's been wearing normal clothes, not her uniform-"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Otto said, sighing.

"It's too tight! She'd show! And she went on vacation with Nero… which is obviously when this happened…"

"I think your jumping to conclusions."

Laura rolled onto her back. "Well, whatever-"

She screamed suddenly, falling forwards onto Otto's chest. Otto shook her. "Laura? You okay?"

She didn't move. Her eyes were open and staring.

Otto looked up and saw a group of men in black standing at the door, which had opened without them noticing. The one in the lead was holding a gun.

_She's been shot._

"Get some clothes on and come with us." said the man in the front.

Otto stood up shakily, and pulled his uniform back on. He glanced at Laura and he could see the blood on the back of her neck. He closed his eyes and followed the men out the door.

###

_Natalya lay on her back in the snow, her breathing ragged. Gayle pulled her to her feet. "Geez, that was quite the fall. You okay?"_

"_She knows, Gayle, she knows." The words tumbled out in a rush. "She knows about… it."_

_Gayle swore. "Do you think we should try and make a break for it?"_

"_I don't know." Natalya said. "I'm not at my best right now-"_

"_It'd be easier to escape before it's born." Gayle said. "So let's just go for it."_

She felt someone squeeze her hand. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Nero. She smiled at him, then closed them again.

_She was so cold, cradled in Zac's arms as Gayle walked in front. _I'm going to die here. And it's not going to hurt. I'm just going to be… frozen…

"_There!" Gayle yelled. "I see the city! We'll be there in ten minutes."  
"Good." Zac said through chattering teeth. "Can you take a turn carrying your girlfriend? She's heavy."_

"_Sure." Gayle grabbed her and slung her over her shoulder. She bit her tongue and winced, then closed her eyes. She wished Nyss was here. Nyss would think of something funny to say, something to take her mind off the horrible awful cold-_

_She must have fallen asleep then, because the next think she knew she heard the crackling of a fire, and she could feel her toes. _

"_Natalya?" _

_She looked up and saw Zac._

"_We did it." Gayle rubbed her shoulders. "We've escaped."_

"_Really?" Strangely, she didn't feel excited. Just exhausted. "Wow."_

_Zac frowned. "I think they let us, Gayle. That was too easy."_

"_Who cares?" Gayle kissed Natalya's cheek. "You're going to be a mother, Natalya."_

"_I wish she would hurry it up." Zac sighed. "Then we could leave it at an orphanage here and we wouldn't have to worry about it."_

"_I'm tired…" Natalya yawned-_

"Wake her up."

Someone shook her shoulder, and Raven blinked away. Oddly, her contractions had stopped.

She looked up and saw. "Gayle…?"

"Hi." Gayle pulled her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Raven said. Her voice was weak.

"I'm taking you away from here." Gayle said. "Where Nero will never find you. And you and I can have fun together…"

He slid his arm around her waist.

Raven closed her eyes and screamed.


	20. Chapter 20

Laura woke up, rubbing her head. _What the heck happened? I was with Otto, we were talking about Raven and then…_

"Brand!"

She looked up and saw Shelby. "Hi. Hi, Adrian. What the heck happened?"

"Raven started having a baby in the middle of the night." Shelby said. Adrian ran over to Laura and hugged her. "So she called me to watch him."

"Is Raven okay?" Laura asked.

"Yep." Shelby said. "Or, she was the last time I asked. Which was a while ago because then we got attacked and all that."

"So… something could have happened?"

"I guess so, but it seems like they were going to make it be born soon anyway, so it's not too bad." Shelby frowned. "Hey, where's Otto?"

"I have no clue." Laura looked around. "He's gone, and his clothes are too… he must have left while I was sleeping…"

"Laura, you've got to be careful." Shelby said. "You know he hasn't been using anything, right?"

"What? You mean, stuff so I don't get pregnant?" Laura frowned. "But he told me-"

"He was lying, then." Shelby said.

"Are you sure?" Laura sat up and started getting dressed.

"Positive." Shelby said. "You should probably check and make sure that nothing… happened."

"I'm pretty sure I'd know by now. I haven't felt sick or anything." Laura pulled on her shoes. "Are we done being under attack?"

"Yeah, it was weird. All of the sudden, they just stopped." Shelby yawned. "Geez, I'm tired."

"Why? Did you invite Wing over to help you with Adrian?"

"No!"

"I'm just kidding. Geez." Laura noticed that there was something sticking out of her neck. She pulled it out. It was a tiny hollow needle that contained traces of some dark liquid. "Huh. Wonder what's up with that?"

"Come on." Laura said. "We'll probably see Otto at breakfast…"

###

Otto slowly started looking around the room. It looked like a pretty normal bedroom, except that there were no window and a steel door. He could hear someone crying, and turned in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the big bed in the corner. He stood up from the chair he had awoken in and walked over towards it. As he got closer, he could see Raven lying in the middle, curled up into a ball. She was crying.

"Something wrong?" Otto asked. Raven sat up and he saw that she was wearing a practically see-through purple dress that just barely covered her up. He looked her up and down again, and now he could see that Laura had been right- she was pregnant.

Laura. He winced. Laura was probably dead.

"No." Raven snapped. She rubbed her nose. "Leave me alone, Malpense. Or I'll put you in time out."

"Yeah, you do that." Otto growled.

"I said GO AWAY!" She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. Otto sighed, and started heading back to his chair when a small wooden door opened and a man entered. Otto frowned… the guy looked an awful lot like Number One, which didn't make him very comfortable.

"Oh, stop that." He growled at Raven, who was still crying. "Honestly, you can't even tell that you're the world's deadliest assassin-"

"YOU SHUT UP!" Raven screamed, throwing a pillow at him. He caught it, grabbed her by her shoulders and forced her to her feet. He put his hands on her hips and kissed her neck. Raven tried to jerk away but the man shoved her backwards and punched her squarely in the stomach.

"Don't do that!" Otto spluttered as Raven collapsed backwards, gasping. "You could really hurt her!"

The man turned him around and glared at him. "Please be quiet. I don't understand how this is any of your business."

"She's my…" Otto frowned. Friend? No. Teacher? Not really. Babysitter? Kind of, but that wasn't exactly going to help. "Well… just stop it!"

"Malpense, stay out of this." Raven got to her feet. "Listen, Gayle." She turned to the man. "If you don't hit me… I promise I'll stop fighting. I'll go along with it. I'll even…" She looked like she was swallowing something nasty. "… kiss you if you like."

"Yes, I would like that." Gayle shoved her down onto the bed, pinning her shoulders down. Raven leaned up and pressed her lips to his, putting one hand around his neck. When they broke apart, Gayle stepped back, and then hit Raven in the same place. Raven collapsed with a low moan.

"This is fun." Gayle said, pulling Raven to her feet again. "Isn't it, Natalya?"

Raven gasped and clutched at the sheets hanging off the bed. "Leave… him… alone."

"Him?" Gayle narrowed his eyes. "Oh, are you talking about this?" He kicked her in the stomach and she doubled over.

"I said _stop!_" Otto yelled, pressing the place on Gayle's neck that Wing had showed him. Instantly, the man crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

"Help… me… please." Raven gasped, trying to pull herself up. Otto grabbed her arm and somehow dragged her back onto the bed. She collapsed in a heap, then started crying again.

"What?" Otto said.

"My water just broke." Raven whispered. She obviously expected this to have some sort of effect on Otto, but he had no clue what that was supposed to mean and just stared at her blankly.

"Just…" Raven winced as she shifted position. "Just… stay here, okay? And hit Gayle if he wakes up." She winced again. "Please?"

"Sure." Otto said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Wow, this is comfortable."

"Oh, and shut up. _Please._"


	21. Chapter 21

Dahlia Malpense looked up at Nero. "Are you alright?"

Nero sat down hard. He wanted to cry, but he was too exhausted. "Find her. Please."

"Okay." Dahlia said.

"I think Gayle has her." Nero said. He put his head in his hands. "Oh, god. Gayle has Natalya… and my baby…"

"We'll find her." Dahlia said. "She'll be fine. Benn and I, we'll look."

"Take Brand." Nero grunted. "And Fanchu. And Trinity. Malpense is gone as well."

"Is he my brother?" Dahlia asked curiously.

"Biologically, no." Nero said quietly.

"Just wondering." Dahlia said. She gently shut the door to his office, then left.

"What's up?" Benn asked.

"He wants us to look for her." Dahlia said.

"That's what I thought." Benn smiled, putting his arms around her waist. "Just the two of us?"

"No." Dahlia said. "We're going to take some other students as well. My brother's friends."

Benn shrugged. "Ah, well. I'm sure we'll get time together anyway…" He stroked her hair.

Dahlia smiled, then it faded. "I'm worried about Raven."

"I think we've figured out that she can take care of herself."

"I'm not worried about her; I'm worried about what'll happen if she gives birth." Dahlia said. "It's too early, and if she's captured it's not like they'll help her. And… she and Nero aren't going to get another chance at this. He's too old."

"What, so you mean the baby'll die?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Dahlia said.

"And… that'll make her real happy." Benn sighed. "So we have to find her _fast_."

"Yep." Dahlia said. "And even if she doesn't give birth to it now, it'll die soon anyway."

"Great." Benn rubbed his forehead. "And do we have any idea where to go or anything?"

"Nope." Dahlia said. "Not until I get more information. Then I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out."

"Good." Benn twirled a strand of her around his finger. "We should go find out some more, then."

"Oh, not now…" Dahlia yawned. "I'm too exhausted. I was up all night…"

"Come on, then." Benn said. "We'll go fine somewhere to sleep."

###

Raven closed her eyes and pulled the covers tighter around her. Otto looked around. Nothing was going on. He yawned. "This is boring." He muttered.

"What's boring?"

The voice made him jump. A man got up from the couch. He looked a little like the unconscious Gayle, but his eyes were wider and kinder looking, and he looked slightly disheveled and wore a pair of glasses perched haphazardly on his nose.

"I'm Zac Goodeman." He said, looking at Otto's expression. "I… Natalya and I are friends." He frowned. "Well, I think we're friends. She'd probably say otherwise…" He looked down at her. "You can wake up now…"

Raven yawned. "Leave me alone." She mumbled, rolling over.

"Natalya, I'm a doctor."

Raven sat up. "Oh. Hi, Zac. When did that happen?"

"I gave up on Gayle and went to college." Zac said.

"Great." Raven yawned again. "You can become the first ever Glasshouse trainee to save people instead of killing them."

Otto frowned. "What is she on about?"

"It's long story." Zac shrugged. "So, what's going on?"

"I'm having a baby, you dolt." Raven snapped. Her arm shot out and whacked Zac in the shoulder. "So doctor me."

"Are you this rude to everyone?"

"Yes." Otto muttered. Zac smirked.

"Shut up, Malpense…" Raven yawned. "I'm tired… Zac, get me a smoothie."

"I don't have a smoothie." Zac sighed. "Come on, let me take a look at you."

Raven pulled back the covers. Zac looked at her for a moment.

"You're early."

"_I know that you dolt._" Raven snarled.

"Very early." Zac said. He bit his lip. "This is not good."

"Is this all doctors do? If so, I could be one. _Malpense _could be one."

Zac sighed. "_Natalya…_"

###

"Wake up!"

Otto yawned. He'd been taking a nap on the couch, and having a very nice dream involving Laura…. But now Zac was shaking his shoulder.

"I need you to hold her still." Zac said. He looked shaken.

"Raven?"

"Yes." Zac said "And hurry. I'm losing her."

Otto stood up and went over to the other bed. He put one hand on each of Raven's shoulders. She opened her eyes, locking onto his.

"Gayle…" she whispered. "I hear her… we've got to get out of here." Her voice was different, somehow.

"Um." Otto said.

"If you carry me…" She started to sit up but Otto pushed her down.

"You're not going anywhere."

"She'll kill us!" Raven yelled. Her eyes were full of pain and… fear.

"She's delirious." Zac said. "Just keep her still and talk to her."

"Who?" Otto said.

"Madame Furan! We escaped, didn't we? She wants me back." Raven closed her eyes. "I don't want to go back…"

Otto glanced at Zac, but he was concentrating and said nothing.

"But I want to help Nyss." Raven mumbled. She looked away. "I have to save… her." She cried out. "Please- can we go back?"

"Sure." Otto said wildly. This was freaking him out a little.

"Good." Raven sighed, then pulled herself up and kissed his cheek. She fell back onto the bed, then screamed again.

Otto rubbed the spot vigorously with his sleeve.

"There." Zac said. He started walking towards the bathroom. "Keep her talking, Otto."

Otto poked Raven in the shoulder. "Hi. You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Malpense." Raven snapped. She struggled to sit up. "Where's my smoothie?!"


	22. Chapter 22

**There's kind of a violent part at the end of this chapter… I'm just warning you…**

"I don't have a smoothie." Otto said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, that's a problem, then." Raven said briskly.

"Yeah… I guess…" Otto stood up. He was feeling uncomfortable. "Er-"

"Here." Zac came back into the room and handed Raven her baby. He was so, so tiny, and his eyes were closed and his limbs looked thin and fragile.

"I don't have a name." Raven rubbed her head. "Max and I were going to-"

"Don't name him." Zac said, squeezing her shoulder.

"Why not? He's my son-"

"Natalya, he doesn't have much of a chance of surviving. It'll hurt less if he doesn't have a name."

Raven scrunched up her shoulders. "I guess you're right… should I feed him?"

"Sure." Zac said. "But he might not respond. Just make sure he keeps breathing, okay?"

"'Course." Raven yawned. "And what do I do if he stops breathing?"

"Call me." Zac said.

"And what will you do?"

Zac shrugged. "I'll figure something out."

"That's really reassuring." Raven rolled her eyes and pulled the covers closer around her.

"_Gayle…" she whispered. "I hear her… we've got to get out of here." Her voice was weak_

"_You're too weak."_

"_If you carry me…" She started to sit up but Gayle pushed her down. _

"_You're not going anywhere." _

"_She'll kill us!" Natalya yelled_

"_Calm down." Zac said, pushing her back down. "This isn't going well and I don't want you to make it worse."_

"_No, she won't." Gayle squeezed her hand._

"_We escaped, didn't we? She wants me back." Natalya closed her eyes. "But I don't want to go back…"_

_Gayle glanced at Zac, but he was concentrating and said nothing. _

"_But I want to help Nyss." Natalya mumbled. She looked away. "I have to save… her." She cried out. _

"_Natalya, just stay still." Gayle said. "We're almost there now, okay? Just a few more minutes…"_

"_It hurts." _

"_I know." He squeezed her hand again. "Just stay brave and it'll be okay, got it?"_

"_Got it…"_

"Hey." Otto waved his hand in front of her face. "So is this Dr. Nero's baby or what?"

"I hope it is." Raven muttered. She pressed the baby to her chest and he started to nurse. Raven calmed down a little- she was pretty sure that was good.

"What does that mean?"

"It means Nero should not send me to a party to try and get information out of someone." Raven said. "Because there might be… consequences."

"Ahhh." Otto said.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Gayle stood up.

"I'll be back." He hissed, then stalked out the door and was gone.

Raven sighed. Otto frowned. There was something about how Raven acted around Gayle… that reminded him of how Laura had been acting ever since that one night when they'd both looked after Adrian.

He was pretty sure that wasn't a good thing.

"_SPLIT UP!" Zac yelled. Natalya took off. Anastasia and her minions had finally turned up, and they were running for their lives. Thankfully, she'd showed up right after her son had been born. But that was just about the only good thing that had happened. _

_She was heading back towards the road. Maybe she could go deeper into the city and break away from her pursuers. The sound of cars got louder and she started to get nervous. She wasn't exactly trained to deal with giant hunks of metal on wheels-_

_BANG!_

_The shot hit her shoulder, spinning her around. She collapsed to her knees, then got up, glancing behind her. Anastasia was running after her._

That must be pretty hard in those heels. _Natalya thought. She smirked. _I hope she trips and breaks her neck.

_She was almost to the road now… She ran out. The car screeched to a halt as she sprinted past it._

_Then another shot hit her in the leg. She fell, slamming hard into the pavement and skinning both knees and her chin. The baby fell from her arms and rolled away from her. Natalya got onto her hands and knees and started to crawl towards him, but before she could do anything a car hurtled past her._

_She heard a shriek, then an awful, horrible crunching noise and then she blacked out. _


	23. Chapter 23

Nyss yawned. "Is it bedtime yet?"

"No." said Cia. Nyss sighed and jumped off the chair she was sitting on like she couldn't stand it any longer.

"It's only three in the afternoon." Cia said gently.

"I want to play with someone." Nyss said. "Someone my age. Or Otto. Otto would be just fine." She smiled at Cia. "I'm going to marry him, you know."

"Sure." Cia said. "Do you want me to go and get someone?"

"Yes." Nyss said, relief breaking over her face. Cia had never shouted at her but you could tell when she was annoyed by the scary look in her eyes. She didn't want to get into any trouble.

"Alright. A boy or a girl?"

"A girl. My age, please."

"Fine." Cia stood up. "Stay put, okay?"

"Sure."

She couldn't stay still, she was so full of excitement. She jumped around until she knocked all the things off a shelf. Papers flew everywhere. She started looking through them. They were pretty drawings… but some of them weren't very nice. There was one with her father looking really mad at her mum. He looked like he was pushing her or something. She turned the page over and saw the image of her mother lying at the bottom of a staircase. There was something _wrong_ about it. She seemed twisted… broken…

"Here we go." Cia re-entered the room, followed by a girl Nyss's age with red hair and dressed in gray camouflage. The girl looked at Nyss, nervous. Nyss stuck out her hand.

"Hi. I'm Nyss." She said.

"Kayla." The girl said, shaking her hand.

"Do you want to play?"Nyss asked.

The girl shrugged.

"I want to show you my room." Nyss said. She dragged Kayla off. Kayla seemed… different from any other kid she had met. Scared? But what was she scared of? This was a nice place. There was nothing scary here.

She was soon to find out that was not the case.

###

Raven sat with the baby pressed to her chest, tears streaming silently down her face.

"Um… is something wrong?" Otto asked.

"What? No. Just thinking." Raven blinked them away.

"Are you sure?" said a man standing in the doorway.

"Hey, you're the guy who took Nyss!" Otto said, standing up.

"Pietor Furan." Raven tried to cross her arms, but her son got in the way. "Why don't you just go die in a hole and leave me alone?"

"Touching." His lip curled as he examined the baby. "So this is it? He's tiny."

"That's not my fault." Raven snarled.

"No." He smirked. "It's his father that's the problem."

"Don't you talk about Max that way!" Raven jumped to her feet and aimed a punch at Furan's jaw, but the man deflected it quickly.

"Are you sure it's Nero? You were with two others that night, remember?" Furan stepped back to avoid Raven's feeble blows. "Touchy, aren't you? Say, if you're that desperate for a boyfriend, why don't you come with me?"

"I'd rather drown in a vat of razor blades." Raven spat.

"Natalya, what is going on?" Zac came closer. "Oh. It's you."

"That's it?" Raven said, glaring at him. "You don't hate his every molecule? Oh, wait, that's his sister. You don't at least want to disembowel him?"

"At once I did, but it doesn't matter as much now."

"Whatever." Raven said.

"Er, who is this guy?" Otto said.

"He's someone who deserves to drown in a vat of razor blades." Raven growled.

"Do you _know_ how immature that sounds?" Furan said, rolling his eyes.

###

Raven fell asleep soon after, so Otto was stuck on babysitting duty. Furan was standing in the doorway, staring at him. Zac yawned.

"How long have you known Raven?" Otto asked.

"Since she was eleven." Zac said. "But we're just friends."

"Oh." Otto yawned. He was really tired, though he wasn't sure why. You'd think being unconscious for a few hours would count as sleep, but apparently not. However, he was pretty sure Raven would murder him if he dared sleep, so he shook himself and tried to stay awake.

The baby in his arms thrashed, kicking him in the stomach. Otto pulled him a little closer.

"Gayle's my brother." Zac said. He was staring off into space. "He used to be good, but after Natalya and Max got married-"

"Dr. Nero and Raven are married?" Otto asked.

"Yep." Zac frowned. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that, was I."

"Nope." Otto said cheerfully.


	24. Chapter 24

Adrian cried out, opening his eyes. Laura kissed the top of his head. "Something wrong?"

"I had a bad dream." he said. "A really bad one."

"What happened?" Laura asked, pulling him closer.

"Daddy killed Mum." Adrian said.

"What?" Laura glanced up at Nero, who she knew Nyss and Adrian considered their father.

"Mum was in the room where H.I.V. lives." Adrian said. His voice sounded shaky. "She plugged in her blackbox and everything went red."

"And then what happened?"

"Stuff exploded." Adrian said. "She got hurt." He pointed to his leg. "She was going to find Dad. She ran past you and Otto. You were lying on the ground and Otto was holding you. He poked you in the stomach and you laughed and Raven stopped for a moment and hit Otto in the head."

"Er… why?" Laura asked.

"She doesn't like him very much."

"But… it sounded like stuff was going wrong." Laura said. "Why would she stop for… never mind, I'll figure it out later. Keep going."

"Anyway, she was running for a while and then she found Nero. I'm not sure where he was, I've never seen that place before, but he was at the top of some stairs. She yelled that they had to get out of here and he told her to come closer and then…" Adrian gulped. "He yelled 'I can't believe you, Natalya!' and she said 'It will be okay.' And then he went 'No it won't! I don't know who you are anymore.' And then he hit her. And her leg was hurt. And she fell. Down the stairs. And she landed and there was a crunch and she looked wrong and then a man showed up and he held her like Otto held you and kissed her forehead and yelled. 'I'll never give you!"

"I'll never… give you?"

"Something like that." Adrian shrugged. "He picked her up and carried her off and then Nero started crying and Otto and Wing were there and then I woke up."

"Wow." Laura said. "That's quite the dream. But that's all it is. You're probably just scared that something's going to happen to your mum so your sub-consciousness took that and turned it into this. That's all dreams are, really. They're nothing to get worked up over."

"But it seemed so real."

"So do the ones where you go to school in your underwear. But those aren't real, are they?"

"Nope." Adrian said. He seemed to have calmed down now. "So it's not real?"

"Not real, and it never will be real." Laura said. "You want a story?"

"Sure."

"Okay, just stay here while I get some water." Laura stood up. She passed Nero, getting himself more brandy.

"Thanks for looking after him." Nero grunted. "I wouldn't be able to, not with everything happening with Natalya…"

"Oh, it's fine." Laura said off-handedly.

"You don't have to say that." Nero sighed. "You'd probably rather be looking for your boyfriend."

"And you'd rather be looking for Raven." Laura said. She took a long drink from her glass. "But you wouldn't be much of a help, and so this is more important."

Nero grunted again. Laura went back to Adrian.

Halfway through the story, her blackbox beeped. It was a message from Shelby.

_I think we know where they are now. If I stop sending you these, it's because I'm dead. _

Lovely. Laura yawned. It was getting late.

"Let's keep going- Adrian?"

She shook the little boy's shoulder, but he was fast asleep. Laura shrugged and lay down on the couch, putting her arms around Adrian. He smiled faintly, nestling his head under her chin. Laura kissed the top of his head. He was so warm. Once again, she found herself longing for one of her own…

She fell asleep and dreamed about her and Otto lying in a giant field. When she woke up, she was happy and for a moment could not remember where she was. Adrian shifted next to her and she snapped out of it.

"Brand." Nero said.

Laura looked up. "Yes?"

"Have the others sent you any messages?"

Laura picked up her blackbox. "No, nothing yet." Her stomach twisted with worry. "I hope they're okay."

"Just wondering." Nero said. "And by the way, I have no plans to push Raven down a staircase and make her break her neck."

"I wasn't worried." Laura said. "It was just a dream…"


	25. Chapter 25

Shelby smiled as the door clicked open.

"You're good at that." Dahlia said.

"What?" Shelby asked, distracted, as she moved to deactivate yet another alarm.

"Opening things." Dahlia said.

"Well, you're the one who found this place."

"The clues were all there, for those who can see them." Dahlia shrugged. "It wasn't that difficult. Learning to find them, though… that was hard."

"Really?" Shelby said.

"Yeah." Dahlia said. "It's a really long story. I've been busy the past few years…"

"Do you have a family?"

"They were killed." Dahlia said. "And they only adopted me anyways, I'm really a Mal-"

"Shh!" Shelby pushed her into a corner. "I wish we had suits…"

"Suits?" Dahlia muttered under her breath.

"Ones that make you invisible." Shelby bit her lip. "Okay, he's gone."

They continued through the labyrinth of corridors until they reached the place where the prisoners were kept.

"And now I wish I had x-ray vision." Shelby sighed.

"Shh!" Dahlia hissed. "Someone's coming!"

They ducked into the shadows as a door a few feet away opened and a man they didn't recognize and a woman they did stepped out.

"-Gayle says he wants to talk to you, so you know what that means. You might just as well have left that pretty little dress back there." The man was saying.

Raven said nothing. Her arms were restrained and her eyes burned with hatred.

"What, nothing?" said the man. "That's not the Raven I remember."  
"We all grow up." Raven said quietly. "Those of us who get the chance, that is."  
They passed out of sight.

"Do you think Otto was with her?" Shelby whispered.

"I dunno." Dahlia said. "It's worth a try…"

###

Laura yawned and stretched.

"You should probably be getting to class." Nero said. "That would look bad, me keeping you here."

"What about Adrian?" Laura asked.  
"Oh… um…" Nero frowned. "I'll just bring him to class with me. He can sit in the corner and color. Hopefully, no one will notice him."  
"Um, no offense, but he sort of sticks out around here." Laura said. "You know. Because he's so little."

Nero sighed. "You know, this was not how I thought my life was going to go. At all."

"And then you met Raven." Laura said. The second after she'd said it, she regretted it. But Nero just sighed.

"Yes. Exactly. And now… now I'm wondering if maybe this _isn't _how it's supposed to go."

"What does that mean?" Laura said.  
"Well… you know what, never mind." Nero said. "Like I said, you've got to get to class. Don't want you to be late."

"Okay…" Laura said. "If you need me, just send me a message and I'll come, okay?"

"Sure." Nero said. "Now go. Please!"

Laura slid out the door, then poked her head back in. "And if Shelby and the others get back… tell me please."

"Yes!" Nero practically yelled. "Now GO!"

"Okay!" Laura darted out the door again. Nero walked over to Adrian, who was still asleep.

"What are we going to do with you, huh?"

###

Otto looked up as the door opened, expecting it to be Furan and Raven back again. But instead it was Shelby and Dahlia.

"Hi." He said.

"I didn't know guys could have babies." Shelby said.

Otto looked down and realized that he was still holding Raven's son. "Oh. Er."

"What, so you're not denying it?"

"I-"

"Are you secretly a girl?"

"NO!" Otto yelled. "HE'S NOT MINE!"

"I'm just teasing. Geez." Shelby sighed.

"I don't think this is really the time or the place." Said Zac. He took the baby from Otto and started towards the door. "I will go with one of you, and the other one and Otto will go and find Natalya. Do you have backup?"

"Yes, they're heading this way." Shelby said.

"Then I suggest we wait for them to arrive and then proceed." Zac said.

Shelby raised an eyebrow at Otto.

"He's Raven's friend." Otto said.

"Her friend? I didn't think she had friends." Shelby said.

"Well, she does now." Otto shrugged. "And it's her kid, by the way."

"Does 'it' have a name?" Shelby asked, sitting down next to him. "And can I hold? Please?"

Zac passed the baby to Shelby.

"No, he's-" Otto started.

"Um…" Shelby looked up, alarmed. "_He's not breathing_."


	26. Chapter 26

"Oh, god!" Otto grabbed the baby and passed him to Zac. "Do something! Fast!"

"I'm trying!" Zac said. "EVERYONE STOP STARING AT ME!"

Otto looked away from him and looked instead at Dahlia.

"Geez, how did you find us?" he said.

"She's like a wolf hound or something." Shelby said.

"No, I'm not." Dahlia sighed. "I've been trained to do that for the last few years. It's not that big idea. You go and do crazy stuff, don't you?"

"Yes…" Shelby said. "Though I'm not sure if it's crazy stuff."

"Oh, yes." Zac said. "It's crazy stuff."

"Is he okay now?" Otto asked, turning back around.

"Yes, but he won't be for much longer." Zac said.

"Give the baby to me." said a voice. Otto turned to see Furan. "He's going back to Nero."

"Why?" Otto asked. "What's going on?"

"That's none of your business." Furan said. "Now give him to me."

Otto opened his mouth to object, but Zac walked forward and handed Raven's son over to him. Furan smiled, then left.

"What's up with that?"

"He's not someone you want to cross." Zac said.

"What, do you know him?"

"Yeah." Zac frowned but did not elaborate.

"Oh, crap!" Shelby yelled. "He locked the door!"

"What?!" Dahlia spluttered.

"Yeah!" Shelby kicked the door in frustration. "So now we're stuck in here with you!"

"You make it sound like I'm evil or something…" Otto said, sighing.

###

"Yay! Food!" Raven bolted over to the table in front of her, sat down and started gulping down a sandwich. Gayle frowned, then sat down next to her and watched her eat. Raven noticed him staring at her and sighed.

"'M hugrey." She said through a mouthful of food. "'Ecause oo locked 'e in a cell."

"O-kay…" Gayle said.

Raven polished off her sandwich and started in on a bowl of soup. "So what did you- _slurp_- want to talk to me about?"

"Your execution." Gayle said.

Raven grabbed a glass of water, gulped half of it down then spat the rest out onto him. "That felt good. You were saying?"

"Marry me or die." Gayle said coldly.

"Die." Raven tilted her bowl of soup back, drinking the last of the broth.

"You are that loyal to Nero?" Gayle said, arching his eyebrow.

"Yep." Raven said. "Got anything else for me to eat?"

"No." Gayle eyed the crumbs and soup stains all over the table. "And what about your son?"

"What about him?" Raven said.

"If you die, he'll die with you." Gayle growled.

"Why?" Raven said. "He's an infant. He's done nothing wrong."

"He was born to you."

"That's hardly his fault." Raven growled.

"And he'll die anyway without proper care."

"You think I don't know that?!" Raven yelled, standing up and slamming her hands down onto the table.

"I know you know." Gayle said. "I have a deal for you. I'll think you'll want to listen to it."

"Fine." Raven glared at Gayle, crossing her arms.

"Your son can go back and live with his father. And you will stay here with me." Gayle said. "And listen to me."

Raven bit her lip.

"Don't act all high and mighty." Gayle hissed. "You know that what you and Nero have is nothing special."

Raven narrowed her eyes. "And what exactly is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"He ordered you to sleep with him or he'd give you back to the Furans." Gayle growled.

"And that was fifteen years ago." Raven snapped. "It's different now."

"Really." Gayle said. "I wonder."

"What are you saying? That Nero's only pretending to like me because I'm… attractive?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Gayle said. "He doesn't care about you. Why do you think he was so insistent that you two have a baby?"

"Because he loves me?"

"You're so stupid sometimes, Natalya." Gayle said. "He's thirty years older than you."

"So?!"

"So… you know what, never mind."

"You know why I'm agreeing to this, right?" Raven said.

"Because you won't be able to live with yourself if your son dies and it's your fault?"

"No." Raven hissed. "Because I know Max will save me."

Gayle laughed.

"Oh, he won't. Not after what you're going to do for me…"


	27. Chapter 27

"What does that mean?" Raven said. "I would never do anything to hurt Max."

"You promised to obey me." Gayle tossed her something. Her blackbox…?

"All you have to do is plug this in to the core at H.I.V.E." Gayle said. "That's it." His voice seemed to have an echo now.

"Overlord?" Raven asked.

"The one and only." said Gayle/Overlord.

"Really." Raven said. "Because there seems to be two of you now."

"I'll leave you alone for a moment." Gayle said, standing up.

"What the heck is up with him?" Raven fumed. "Saying all that bull crap about Max… he makes me so mad." She sighed. "What will it do if I plug you in?"

"Nothing important." Overlord said. She felt like a warm blanket had been draped around her shoulders, but she had the feeling that what was really going on was something much more… intimate.

"How were Adrian and Nyss conceived?" Raven said, dropping her blackbox on the table and moving away from it. She had a bad feeling but she pushed it away- she'd waited a long time to have this question answered.

"I am not entirely sure about Adrian." Overlord said. "But while you were giving birth to him I saw the memories of that other little girl in your mind. I copied her DNA and Nyss was born."

"Why?" Raven said.

"I thought it would make you happy." Overlord said.

"It did." Raven said. "Thank you."

There was silence for a moment. Then Gayle re-entered.

"So? Are you fine now?"

"No." Raven said. "I'm not fine. I don't think I'll ever be fine again."

"Great." Gayle said. "I'm going to guess that this has to do with me."

"Congratulations." Raven said sarcastically. "You figured it out." She started clapping.

"Oh, stop that." Gayle snarled. "I don't get what I have that Nero doesn't."

"Um." Raven pretended to think. "He's nice to me. He's not a pervert. He didn't _push me in a fireplace_ or _cheat on me with my little sister-_"

"I was just joking around!"

"That doesn't change what you did!" Raven huffed. "And I suspect you were with Alto too, but I just never caught you at it-"

"No, I wasn't." Gayle snapped. "I don't like her. She's too serious."

"How is she too serious and I'm not?! She's like, a normal person."

"Yes, but you're hotter. It balances out." Gayle put his arm around her and drew her into him.

"What do you have to do with Malpense?" Raven said.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You look like him." Raven said. "You've got the same face."

"Oh, so is that why you hate him?" Gayle asked.

"No! I don't hate him! He's just… annoying. My workload, like, doubled the instant he showed up. And he takes advantage of that poor girl." Raven said.

"What if she likes it?" Gayle said.

"No one likes that…" Raven said. "Especially not all the time."

"I happen to like it." Gayle said.

"No, you like me."

"Exactly. So get over here and kiss me."

"I am 'over here'. I don't think it's physically possible for us to be smushed together more than we are already." Raven crossed her arms. "Besides. I'd rather kiss Furan."

"That can be arranged."

"Shut up." Raven snapped. "If you do that, I'll…. I'll…"

"Stammer at me?" Gayle twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. "I am so terrified. It's good to see that you picked up so much from training."

"I SAID SHUT U-Mmmmmph!" Raven jerked away from Gayle. "I told you that I don't want to kiss you? I don't even like kissing! Not even with someone less repulsive."

"So you don't kiss Nero?"

"No." Raven said. "Not very often. I just like it when he holds me."

"I'm holding you."

"Yeah, well you aren't Nero." Raven hissed.

"I KNOW!" Gayle yelled. "I'M NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU BECAUSE I'M NOT ALL SMART AND OLD AND STUFF. I GOT IT. IT'S NOT LIKE I'VE EVER DONE ANYTHING-LIKE I HAVEN'T RUN G.L.O.V.E. FOR YEARS AND HELPED KEEP YOUR STUPID BOYFRIEND SAFE! IT'S NOT LIKE I DIDN'T ESCAPE FROM THE GLASSHOUSE ON MY OWN WITHOUT WAITING FOR A STUPID PRINCE!"

"Wait." Raven said. "You ran G.L.O.V.E.? Since when?"

"_I'm Number One_!"Gayle yelled.

Raven's eyes got really big. "What?! You're kidding!"

"I'm not." Gayle said. "Now get over here and do as I say… unless you want to get hurt."

Raven twisted away from him, crossing her arms. "Never, you ba-"

She collapsed to her knees and began to scream.


	28. Chapter 28

"No!" Raven snatched at the air in front of her. "DON'T HURT THEM! PLEASE!"

"I'll make it stop if you come here." Gayle hissed.

Raven got shakily to her feet and collapsed onto his shoulder. "Nyss…." She muttered. "Adrian… Max…"

"It's not fun to see the ones you love hurt, is it?" Gayle asked, stroking her hair. Raven shook her head. Gayle started to guide her towards the bed in the corner. "If you think about trying to fight me… it will come back.

"How can you do that?" Raven whispered. She lay down, stroking the sheets with one hand.

"It's a secret." Gayle said. He started to kiss her neck. Raven didn't break away, seemingly defeated.

"If I could do that, would I show up for you?" Raven said. Her voice was small and shaky.

"What? No." Gayle put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer.

"You wanted to know why you were different from Max." Raven said. "Well, there you go."

"What?" Gayle shook his head. "Never mind. Quit fooling around."

"You're the one fooling around." Raven hissed.

"No I'm not. I love you, Natalya."

Raven laughed. "No you don't."

###

"It's a good thing Benn is a fast learner." Shelby said.

"Yeah…" Dahlia rubbed her head against Benn's shoulder. "He's a genius, isn't he?"

"Not really…" Benn said. "Shelby's just really good at bossing people around…"

"Thank you very much." Shelby bowed. "I'm here all week-"

"All of you be quiet." Zac snapped. He frowned. "I think we're going to have to leave Raven here."

"Why?" Otto asked.

"It would take too much time to rescue her. Besides, Gayle plans to send her to H.I.V.E. anyway. Though I'm not sure what for…"

"Well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it." Shelby said.

"'Kay, let's go." Benn said. "I don't know how long it's going to take to get back there…"

###

"Otto!" Laura threw her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're back…"

"You're alive!" Otto yelled.

"Well, no duh." Shelby said. "Did you expect her to spontaneously combust the instant the two of you were apart?"

"No… I just saw you fall down and there was blood." Otto said. "So I figured you were dead…"

"You can't get rid of me that easily." Laura grinned.

"Where's Raven?" Nero said. "And what the heck is Zac Goodeman doing here?"

"Raven's… we had to leave her." Otto said. "And he's nice. He helped when Raven had her baby."

"She what?!" Nero shook Otto's shoulders. "Where is he?! Is Natalya okay?! How about the baby?! Was it long?"

"We don't know, yes, yes and yes." Otto said. "But he's really weak Didn't you have a plan for this?"

"Yes." Nero said. "But I didn't expect it to be so soon…" He rubbed his head. "I hope she's okay."

"It takes a lot to hurt her." Zac said reassuringly. "And Furan said the baby was going to you…"

"Him?!" Nero spluttered. "He was there?" He opened and closed his fists. "She's in big trouble, then."

"She can handle it." Zac said. "Don't worry about Natalya. If she finds out, she'll never stop teasing you."

"I don't really think she'll tease me…" Nero said, frowning.

"Oh, you'd be surprised…" Zac said, rolling his eyes.

###

Laura pressed herself up against Otto. "Mm… you're all warm."

"Thanks, I think." Otto said. "So have you been looking after Adrian this whole time?"

"Yeah." Laura said. She sighed happily "He's so sweet…"

"Yeah, he's cute." Otto shrugged.

"So what happened to you?"

"I dunno. Some guy named Gayle kidnapped me. I don't know why, or what he was planning to do… but he kept trying to do stuff to Raven. She wouldn't let him and he hit her and she had her baby. And then…" Otto frowned. "She must have thought that I was someone else… she kept talking about someone named Furan… maybe the guy who showed up. And… she kissed me."

Laura blinked.

"_On the cheek." _Otto added quickly.

"Oh. Good." Laura rolled over. Her side pressed into Otto's.

"Geez, Laura. Have you been hitting the chocolate ice cream harder or something?" Otto said.

"What?!" Laura shoved her hand over her mouth. "You think I look fat?"

"No!" Otto mentally smacked himself. "Not _fat_. Just curvier then normal…"

Laura's eyes got big. "You know… my period's been late-"

"It's probably nothing." Otto said.

"No, Otto, I really don't think it is nothi-"

"It's NOTHING." Otto stood up. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah." Laura looked down at her feet. "I understand."


	29. Chapter 29

Raven stepped out of the helicopter hesitantly. She looked from left to right, and then mentally kicked herself. _Look like you know what you're doing, and people will think you do. _She walked purposefully across the hanger and started towards the core.

_I want to talk to Max. _

But she couldn't. She had to do what Gayle told her or he'd kill her son.

But he'd said Furan had given her son to Nero.

Which meant he couldn't do anything to him.

_Calm down_. She told herself. _You can see Max after you do what Gayle told you to do. Everyone's happy. Well, relatively. _

She started walking, as fast as she could. It only took her a few minutes to get to the core.

"Hello, Raven." H.I.V. said. "I am glad to still you here."

"Um, hi." Raven pulled out her blackbox. "I'm going to plug something in here… it's not bad or anything, so don't freak out…"

"Why?"

"Why?" Raven was dumbfounded for a moment. "Um…because I'm supposed to?"

"I received no instructions concerning-"

"Stop talking." Raven snapped. She grabbed a cable from her pocket and attached it to her blackbox. Then she shoved the other end into the outlet.

"This is not good." H.I.V. 's voice sounded far away. "What are you doing-"

The blue light faded and turned to red. She heard a crash, then another crash, closer and larger. Raven hugged her arms to her chest.

"What did I just do?" she demanded.

CRASH!  
A large section of the ceiling collapsed, trapping her leg underneath it. She cried out, slamming into the ground. Raven bit her lip and slowly eased it out from underneath.

"What are you DOING!?" she yelled.

"Destroying H.I.V.E." Overlord said.

"WHY?!"

"Because it's fun." Another large crash. "Oops. Not supposed to kill the kids. I'd forgotten…"

"Stop this!" Raven threw her blackbox onto the ground and crushed it under her boot. "STOP IT!"

"You can't stop it anymore." Overlord said. "It's too late."

Raven started running. She made it to the door before she had to stop and grab the wall. The leg that had been trapped refused to function properly. She suspected that it was broken.

_Max will fix this. I know he will. I have to find him before he gets hurt._

"Run all you like!" Overlord called. "It won't change anything!"

###

Laura cried out, jumping out of the way just in time. Otto pulled her close.

"What's going on?"

"I have no idea." Otto said. "We should go find Nero."

"Okay…" Laura said. "I'm going to find Adrian."

"What?!" Otto yelled, grabbing her arm. "No! He's probably with Nero-"

"He's in my room, sleeping, and right now he's in danger!" Laura protested. "I'm going to save him! You can come if you want."

"FINE!" Otto snapped. "You go get the kid, I'll find Nero and then you'll find him too, understand?"

Laura nodded, then took off.

"Wait!" Otto tugged on her arm. Laura lost her balance and fell down. Otto pulled her into his arms.

"Stay safe, okay?" He poked her in the stomach. She laughed.

Raven ran out of nowhere, nearly crashing into them. She stopped for a moment, smacked Otto in the head, then took off again.

"OW!" Otto yelled.

Laura bit her lip.

"Otto! Follow her!"

"Why?" Otto asked. "She just hit me!"

"I don't have time to explain." Laura started running again. "Just do it!"

###

Raven found Nero at the top of the stairs leading up to the second floor. He was staring off into space.

"MAX!" Raven yelled.

Nero turned to look at her. His expression was icy calm.

"You did this."

"We have to get out of here!" Raven ran up the stairs.

"I can't believe you, Natalya!" Nero snarled.

Raven backed up a little. "It will be okay, I swear."

"No, it won't!" His fist slammed into her jaw. She stumbled backwards, teetering on the edge of the top step. She reached out, grabbing at Nero.

"I don't know who you are anymore." Nero said, stepping back.

Then she fell.

She slammed into the ground, staring upward at Nero's face. _He didn't save me_. She tried to move but couldn't. Everything hurt and she tasted blood in her mouth.

She sighed and closed her eyes.


	30. Chapter 30

**I'm not totally sure if what happens to Laura in this chapter is physically possible, but this is a story, so whatever.**

Gayle ran forward, trying to catch her but he wasn't fast enough. Raven hit the ground with a sickening crunch and lay still, her eyes closed.

Gayle scooped her up in his arms. "I'll never forgive you!"

Nero just stood there, shocked. Gayle kissed Raven on the forehead, and then ran off.

###

Otto shook Nero's shoulder. "What's wrong? Where'd Raven go?"

"She… jumped." Nero gestured weakly at the stairs. "Gayle took her body."

"She's… dead?" Otto said.

"Yes." Nero straightened up. "I have to get to the hospital wing. Her son is there. "

"No, he's not."

They both jumped, turning around to see Wing.

"He's on a Shroud with Laura and Shelby and Adrian." Wing eyed Nero. "We can leave now."

"Okay, then." Nero started off, trying to look in charge. He could feel Wing watching him.

_How much did they see?_

###

Nyss collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. Playing was fun, but she wished she could go outside.

"Time for bed." Cia chirped. Nyss climbed under the covers and let herself be tucked in. "But there's something I want for you to do first."

She handed Nyss a pad of paper and a handful of markers. "Can you draw me a picture?"

"Sure." Nyss grabbed the red and made a big stripe across the page. Then she took the orange and did the same. Then the yellow. She frowned. "What comes next?"

"Green." Cia handed her the marker. "But why don't you draw something different? How about… your mother?"

"Sure!" Nyss grabbed the green and flipped the paper over. She started drawing a figure that looked vaguely like Raven. She was sitting.

"What's that?" Cia asked, pointing to the thing Raven was sitting on.

"It's… a wheel chair." Nyss said. She started adding in grass and flowers.

"Really?" Cia said. "Why a wheel chair?"

"I don't know." Nyss shrugged, then yawned. "Can I sleep now?"

"Sure." Cia took the markers back and kissed the little girl's forehead. "Goodnight."

###

Furan rolled his eyes. "Honestly, how much longer are we going to keep the kid around? It's ridiculous."

"Don't you think she's cute?" Anastasia said. "And she's not too much trouble…"

"She'll become trouble if Gayle insists on keeping her mum around." Furan said darkly.

"Really?" Anastasia perked up. "Natalya is here again?"

"Yes. She was injured."

"Where?" Anastasia asked.

"Her legs." Furan said. "They think she'll be permanently paralyzed. She's no use to us any longer- why are you so excited?"

Anastasia smirked.

"We keep the kid around." She said. "She's too valuable to lose."

###

Inside the Shroud, the doctor who had discovered Nyss's parentage was talking to Nero. (He keeps popping up, so we might as well call him by his name. Which is Jon Whitman.)

"He won't survive very long without the incubator." Dr. Whitman said. "It would be better if we could put him back inside his mother-"

"His mother's dead." Nero was holding his son in his arms. Laura and Otto were next to him. Laura's face was red and blotchy, and she'd obviously been crying.

"Wait." Laura said. "Could you… put him inside another girl?"

"Within reason." Whitman said. "But it would be dangerous… very dangerous. For both him and the girl." He looked at Laura sharply. "What are you suggesting?"

"I could take him." Laura said.

"What?!" Otto spluttered. "No, Laura! Don't be stupid!"

"I'm not being stupid." Laura snapped. "I don't want him to die. I think that's worth a little bit of pain."

"It's not just a little bit, you could die!" Otto grabbed her arm. "I won't let you!"

"I can do what I want." Laura twisted away from him. "I'm going to have one anyways, and I don't want that so I might as well do something worthwhile!"

"And _when_, exactly, were you planning on telling me this?" Otto hissed.

"I wasn't." Laura said calmly. "I was going to get him to stop it. Why can't I take Raven's son instead?"

"Laura, you aren't thinking straight." Otto said.

"If that's what she wants, don't stand in her way." Nero passed the baby to Laura. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Laura said. She smiled.

"Stop this!" Otto yelled. "Someone…" He trailed off. "This is hopeless, me protesting. Isn't it?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Laura kissed his cheek. "Go talk to the others, Otto."

"No way. I'm staying here with you." Otto said.

"Right. This is going to hurt, because we don't have any supplies or anything." Whitman said. "Why don't you lie down, and we'll get started."

Laura lay down, pulling off her jumpsuit. Otto took her hand and started stroking it.

"You sure about this?"

"Positive." Laura smiled, then started screaming.


	31. Chapter 31

_Nyss stood at the end of her hospital bed, her arms crossed. "Well, you certainly screwed up this time, didn't you, Natalya?"_

"_Shut up." She rubbed her shoulder. "I'm tired. I want to be left alone and not bugged by Anastasia'a lap dog."_

"_I'm not her lap dog! I was trying to distract her from you!" Nyss yelled. She took a deep breath. "I was trying to protect you."_

"_Well, you've done an _excellent_ job so far." Natalya sighed. "My son's dead, Gayle's not speaking to me…"_

"_You weren't meant to have that baby anyway." Nyss said. "You're only fourteen years old. What would you have done with him if he had lived?"_

_Natalya looked down at her hands. "I don't know." She muttered._

"_Anastasia wants to see you later." Nyss said. "About that mission she was talking about. I think I'm coming with you."_

_Nyss leaned in close. _

"_And then," she hissed. "we can both get out of here."_

Raven opened her eyes, then cried out. "Oh, god- Nyss!"

Her daughter walked closed to her. Raven grabbed her in her arms and showered her with kisses. "Ohmigod I thought you were gone forever- I thought you were going to die-"

"Momma, stop it." Nyss giggled as Raven tickled her.

"Okay…" Raven slowly relaxed her grip on her daughter.

"Momma, are you going to kill me?" Nyss whispered.

"Don't be ridiculous." Raven hugged her closely. "I don't know who told you that… but I can guess." She looked up and glared at Anastasia. "It's cruel how you fill innocent kids' minds with things they don't need to know yet."

"She needs to know that." Anastasia said.  
"No she doesn't, because it's a big lie!" Raven growled.

"Momma, don't fight with Cia." Nyss tugged on her arm.

"She deserves it." Raven crossed her arms, ruffling Nyss's hair. "If you're here, your brother can't be far, can he?"

"Yeah, he's around here somewhere." Anastasia shrugged.

"What are you doing here?" Raven snarled.

"I live here."

"No, I mean why are you talking to me?"

"Because I wanted to witness your happy reunion." Anastasia smiled coldly. "Why don't you come with me to see Gayle?"

"Fine." Raven set Nyss on the ground and then tried to stand up. But her legs wouldn't work, and they buckled beneath her. She landed in a heap.

"Whoops." Anastasia laughed. "It looks like your fall may have hurt you more then you thought."

"My… fall?"

It all came back to her. Tumbling down the stairs. Reaching up to Max. Max doing nothing. She winced.

"Yes." Anastasia picked up Nyss. "You can't run away very well when your legs don't work."

"Don't… work?" She looked down and saw the twisted, broken mess underneath her. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Here." Anastasia pulled her back onto the bed. "See you around, Raven."

Raven buried her face in the thin pillow and sobbed.

###

Dahlia set the tray down in front of Laura. "There. Shelby made it, so I'd be careful while eating it."

Laura smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"How are you doing?" Adrian said, climbing up onto her bed.

"Oh, fine." Laura said. "What are you guys doing?"

"Figuring out who got out in time, who got captured and who died." Dahlia pulled a face. "It's really depressing. The people who got captured and killed way outnumbered the ones who escaped."

"Have they found a new place to have the school yet?" Laura asked.

"Nope." Dahlia shrugged. "Nero's not really in good shape to make decisions at the moment."

"He's drinking again?"

"Yep." Dahlia sighed.

"I can't really blame him. Your wife killing herself is kind of traumatic." Laura said.

"I don't think that's what happened." Dahlia muttered.

"Sorry, what was that?" Laura said.

"Oh, nothing." Dahlia walked out of the room and nearly crashed into Otto. "Oops, sorry."

"It's fine." Otto said. He looked at her hard.

"Are you okay?" Dahlai said.

"No- you just look really familiar." Otto said. "I'm sure I've seen you before. Where did you live before then?"

"Oh." Dahlia frowned. "I was in a children's home when I was little…"

"I was for my whole life." Otto said. "What's your last name?"

"Uh, my real last name is Malpense." Dahlia said.

"Really?" Otto said. "Because-"

"Yours is the same, I know." Dahlia said. "Look, we can talk about it later. You should go and see Laura."

"I'm kind of angry at her." Otto said, rubbing his head.

"Well, that's stupid." Dahlia snapped. "She did something really brave, and she's in a lot of pain right now. She doesn't have time for you to be acting stupid."

"Thanks, sis." Otto smiled. "Well, then…"

"Walk." Dahlia shoved him through the door. "And don't do anything in front of Adrian he shouldn't see, got it?"

"Geez." Otto sighed. "I will… don't worry."

Dahlia looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm not worried." She muttered. "Not about you, anyway…"


	32. Chapter 32

A few hours later, Raven got another visitor. She was staring out the window. The ground below was covered with snow, and looked very familiar.

"Hi, Natalya."

"Hi, Gayle." Raven said, still not turning around.

"Did you notice anything different about you?" Gayle asked.

"Um… apart from the fact that I'm basically paralyzed?" Raven snarled.

"Yes." Gayle took her face in his hands and turned it towards him. "Apart from that."

"I dunno, you gave me plastic surgery so I would look better?" Raven crossed her arms. "Leave me alone, Gayle."

He took her hand and pressed it to her cheek. Raven frowned. Something was different-

"My scar's gone." She said.

"Yep." Gayle said. "It was messing up your pretty face."

Raven jerked away from him, her fists clenched. "_Why did you do that_?!"

"I just said-"

"That's important! It's a reminder! A very important reminder!" Raven turned away from him. "I can't believe you did that."

"I'm sorry." Gayle sighed. "Whatever I do, I just make it worse, huh?"

"Yep." Raven snarled.

"Geez, Natalya! I'm sorry!"

He did look sorry in his reflection in the glass. She turned to glare at him. "It's fine. Just don't do things without my permission!"

"So how do I get your permission?" He took her hand, starting to stroke it.

"You be nice to me!" Raven yelled.

"I am nice to-"

"NO, YOU AREN'T!"

"Sorry." Gayle shrugged. "You're stuck here, you know. It's not like you can escape now."

"No, I can't." Raven sighed. "I can't stand! I can't fight- I can't protect anyone-" She looked like she was going to cry. "I'm virtually useless."

"Not to me." Gayle whispered.

"Yeah, well that's you, isn't it?" Raven snapped.

"Listen." Gayle said. "We've both done bad things-"

"You've done more."

"I've done more- what? Never mind. I was just wondering if we could start over."

"Then let me go."

"Together."

"Maybe." Raven looked back towards the window. "If you can prove that you're worth it."

"I'll try." Gayle put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Thank you."

"For what?" Raven growled. "It's not like you're capable of doing it. So there's no danger of me actually having to make good on my promise."

"Thanks, Natalya." Gayle sighed.

"Welcome." Raven said, smirking.

"Oh, stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Acting like you've actually accomplished something."

"I have- I seem to be annoying you pretty well."

"Yep." Gayle sighed. "You are good at that, aren't you?"

###

Laura looked up as Otto entered. "Hi."

"Are you feeling well enough to come downstairs?" Otto asked, taking her hand. "There's something I want you to see."

"What?" Laura yawned. "And I'm only getting out of bed if it's some sort of emergency or something."

"It's not." Otto shrugged. "But she probably won't live much longer, and I want you to meet her before she dies."

"Meet who?"

"Our daughter." Otto said.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean the baby that the doctor took out of you." Otto said. "The one that was replaced with Raven's."

"But… didn't it die?"

"She's going to." Otto sighed. "That's why I wasn't going to tell you that she's still alive. But she's doing really well, so I wanted you to see her."

"Can't you bring her to me?" Laura's heart was pounding.

"No." Otto said. "She's got a bunch of medical stuff… it's not enough to save her, but it helps."

"I'll come." Laura slowly climbed out of bed. "But no craziness, okay?"

They slowly made their way down the stairs and into a hallway. Otto opened the door, leading into another bedroom. Lying on the bed was a tiny… thing with an oxygen mask and a tube in it's- her- arm.

"Oh, god." Laura swayed, and Otto grabbed her shoulders.

"Steady." Otto said. "Do you want to hold her?"

"I… yes… I…"

"Okay… you have to be really careful."

Laura sat down on the bed and Otto scooped up the little girl, then set her in Laura's arms.

"And she's dying?" Laura whispered, mesmerized.

"Yeah." Otto sat down next to her and rubbed her shoulders. "She'll probably be gone in a few days."

Laura started crying.

"I know." Otto said. "But there will be more. Later. When we're prepared to deal with it." He cast around for something to change the subject to. "Franz escaped. So did Nigel. And they've found a place to start rebuilding the school."

"Great." Laura sighed. "I wish things were normal again."

"They'll be there soon enough." Otto said.

Laura yawned. "I got _no_ sleep last night…"

"Me neither." Otto admitted. "Here, you can sleep on me."

Laura sighed and leaned into him. Otto yawned as well, and in a few minutes all three of them were asleep.

And when they woke up, their daughter was gone.


	33. Chapter 33

Laura set Adrian down on her bed. Otto put his hands on her shoulders, squeezing.

"Cool, huh?" Otto said.

"It's okay." Laura shrugged. "This new building isn't very secure, though. If we wanted too, it would be easy to escape."

"I think they're counting on the fact that it's too dangerous." Otto said.

"Too dangerous to escape?"

"Too dangerous outside." Laura said.

"They did another raid, and got back like fifty kids." Otto said. "But I don't think they're counting on getting the old volcano back soon."

"So we're just going to stay here in these warehouses?" Laura said.

"For now. Nero's still looking for a better place." Otto kissed her cheek. "Where's Felix?"

"I think Shelby's got him." Laura said. "At least, she did the last time I checked. So… he could really be just about anywhere."

"I hope he isn't." Otto muttered. "I think Nero would blow up."

"He really misses her." Laura said. "I wonder why she did it."

"Why who did what?"

"Why Raven jumped." Laura said.

"I think Wing knows something about it." Otto said. "He got there before I did… I wonder if he heard Nero and Raven talking or something."

"He must have." Laura yawned. "Aw, well."

"Are you tired?"

"I've been tired since Felix was… um, since he came out." Laura lay down on the bed. "But I'm glad we get to take care of him and Adrian. So did Nero officially assign you to this room, or are you just here because you want to be?"

"Because I want to be." Otto said. "Officially, I'm with Wing… but I'd much rather be here." He pulled Laura into him and kissed her.

"Oi!" Shelby banged open the door with Felix in her arms. "You two, stop that!"

"Sorry." Laura tried to take Felix from Shelby, but Shelby stepped back.

"And no baby-napping either!"

"I'm not- we're taking care of him, Shelby!" Laura sighed.

"Yes, and _only_ him and Adrian." Shelby crossed her arms. "There's no more room for any others. Got it?"

"We aren't going to have kids until at least final year." Otto snapped. "Get off my case."

"Yes, well, you seem to need all the nagging you can get." Shelby rolled her eyes. "I can't believe that you've survived the last eight months without incident."

"That might have been because both you and Dahlia threatened to decapitate me if I spent the night here." Otto snapped.

"Okay, so admittedly yes." Shelby shrugged. "Don't worry, we wouldn't have really done it."

"Good." Otto said.  
"We'd have suffocated you."

"That's very reassuring." Otto muttered.

###

Raven sat on the porch braiding Nyss's hair. Nyss yawned and leaned against her mother.

"Where did Theo come from?" Nyss said.  
"Theo?" Raven said. "Who's… oh, is that what Gayle named the baby?"

"Yep." Nyss said. "My bother."

"Brother." Raven corrected. "And technically, he's only your half-brother." She sighed. It annoyed her that Gayle had forced her to have a son. She wanted to be done with all that. Besides, it was way too much trouble… she noticed that Nyss was looking at her, like she was waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, what?" Raven said.

"Where'd he come from?" Nyss repeated.

"From another planet." Raven snapped.

"Another… planet?" Nyss said.

"Yes… behind Saturn." Gayle appeared behind Raven. "Nyssa, why don't you go play?"

"But…" Nyss sighed. "Okay."

She slid off Raven's lap and ran off. Gayle sat down next to Raven.

"Still mad at me?"

"Uh, yeah." Raven said.

"We've known each other for a long time, haven't we?" Gayle took her hand and started stroking it.

"Yeah." Raven said, staring off into the distance.

"I really scared you once, I think." Gayle followed her line of sight. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Raven snapped. "And yes. You've scared me multiple times."

"But especially that one time." Gayle said. "You almost killed me."

"Almost… killed you?"

"Yeah." Gayle said. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. Raven's face went white.

"What?! That's impossible- you died- I killed you-" She scooted backwards. "I watched you die! She said you died..."

"I can't be killed by being stabbed in the chest, Natalya."

"You're lying." Raven crossed her arms. "You're making it up- I-"

Gayle pressed his forehead against hers. "Why do you always have to fight me, Natalya?"

"I-"

"What if you thought about me as… _him_?"

"I… I don't know." Raven clenched her fists. "None of this matters! Nero will find me and save me from you!"

"He thinks that you're dead. He thinks that you're dead and he killed you." Gayle kissed her cheek. "Do you really think he will be looking?"

Raven said nothing, but her expression told what she thought. Gayle picked her up.

"Come on. Let's go inside."


End file.
